Kudu Investment Management has made a minority investment in €2.6 billion ($2.9 billion) Apera Asset Management, a U.K.-based pan-European private debt manager.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, Kudu made the investment through an Apera affiliate, an announcement said. Kudu is a provider of permanent capital solutions to independent asset and wealth managers that already to date has stakes in other U.K. and European managers including with London-based alternative credit manager Fair Oaks Capital and London-based Warwick Capital Partners, which is a global special situations manager.
On the private credit side, other Kudu deals this year were with Martis Capital and Variant. Other private credit manager stake are Escalate Capital, Creation Investments, EJF, Pennybacker Capital, Savanna, Third Eye Capital and Warwick Capital.
“Apera has built a well-positioned private credit platform in the U.K. and Europe with a talented team and a first-class operations profile,” said Rob Jakacki, Kudu CEO.
Apera launched in 2016 with a focus on providing debt solutions to middle-market businesses in the U.K., Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Benelux, and the Nordic region. To date, funds managed and advised by Apera have made 60 investments in companies, mostly in the information technology, healthcare, consumer discretionary, and financial sectors.
Apera’s investors are global in scope and include the University of Michigan endowment fund.
Following the deal with Kudu, Apera will still be majority partner-owned and led by founding partners Klaus Petersen, David Wilmot and Robert Shaw. Apera with 38 employees in London, Munich, Paris and Luxembourg will use Kudu’s investment to accelerate the growth of its business, among other internal uses.
“The environment in Europe is receptive to credit solutions like Apera’s, and long-term prospects for European credit funds are highly promising,” Apera’s Petersen said. “Kudu emerged as our preferred strategic partner when we began exploring paths to accelerate Apera’s growth initiatives and to diversify our client base. We value Kudu’s combination of flexible capital, broad industry knowledge, and global reach.”
