Sale unlikely to impact business at Hayfin, source

The sale of Towerbrook Capital Management's founding stake in London-based mid-market lender, Hayfin Capital Management, is not expected to impact the latter's business, a source close to the situation said.

TowerBrook is planning to sell its majority stake in Hayfin, according to two sources close to the process. A typical holding period for a private equity asset is between three to five years, so having founded Hayfin in 2009, the time appears to have come to monetise its investment. 

Towerbrook's move to cash out its stake in the business has been “pretty well sign-posted” over the last 18 months, the source said, meaning that fundraising has not been affected. Hayfin has raised about €3.5 billion of capital over the last 18-24 months. The forthcoming changes at ownership level are not expected to affect current and future fundraising efforts, he said. UBS is advising on the sale process.

Hayfin’s other owners include OMERS Private Equity and Public Sector Pensions Investment Board of Canada. Australian sovereign wealth fund Future Fund is also thought to be a stakeholder. It is unclear at this stage whether those investors will also look to cash out their stakes. 

Hayfin, TowerBrook and OMERS declined to comment on the sale proposals. 

Hayfin, which lends to European mid-market corporates, was set up by a number of former Goldman Sachs veterans and employs around 50 people. Headquartered in London, the firm also has offices in Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and New York. 

Hayfin’s chief executive, Tim Flynn (pictured), was previously a partner at Goldman Sachs, where he co-headed the European leveraged finance and acquisition finance business, according to the firm’s website. Chairman Richard Hayden was vice chairman of alternative asset manager GSC Group prior to joining Hayfin, and partner at Goldman Sachs before that. Hayden is also chairman of the TowerBrook Capital Partners advisory board.

Earlier this year, Hayfin raised €2 billion for the Hayfin Direct Lending Fund, with high demand resulting in a hard cap increase from €1.5 billion. It also raised €1 billion for a separately managed account.

In July 2013, Hayfin announced the closing of its Special Opportunities Credit Fund at the hard cap of approximately €1.4 billion. One month later, it closed CLO Hayfin Ruby II at €400 million.