Fund Management

Nuveen to acquire controlling share of credit manager Arcmont

The deal will expand Nuveen’s private debt capabilities within Europe and complement its existing ownership of Churchill.

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London-based private credit investor Arcmont Asset Management is set to be acquired by US-headquartered asset manager Nuveen.

Nuveen, the investment manager of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Arcmont, including a minority stake held by Dyal Capital Partners IV.

Nuveen said the deal will expand the firm’s private capital expertise into Europe and complement its existing North American private debt and private equity investment specialist Churchill Asset Management.

Arcmont was founded in 2011 as a team within BlueBay asset management and is led by CEO Anthony Fobel. The firm spun out from BlueBay in 2019. Since inception it has raised more than $26 billion from more than 350 investors and has invested more than $20 billion in 270 transactions across Europe.

Nuveen said Arcmont offered considerable synergies with its existing business while having very little overlap as Churchill is focused on investing in North America while Arcmont invests in Europe.

Fobel will become co-CEO of Nuveen Private Capital alongside Ken Kencel, president and CEO of Churchill. They will report to Nuveen’s head of equity and fixed income William Huffman. Churchill and Arcmont will continue to operate under their respective brand names with no changes to their investment teams or processes, though in the future both teams hope to be able to build out their operations further.

Fobel told Private Debt Investor: “We have products we want to build out to give more optionality to our investors and areas like infrastructure debt and CLOs are being looked at.”

Nuveen said it expects global macro-economic conditions to cause continued volatility in liquid markets which will benefit the largest private debt managers as an alternative source of financing for blue-chip borrowers in the Western world.

The deal is currently subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of 2023. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.