Crestline Investors, a credit-focused institutional alternative asset manager, has created a private equity credit and fund restructuring team to actively pursue niche financing opportunities in the private equity markets.
The group will focus on providing bespoke capital solutions, including preferred equity and flexible debt structures, to mature private equity funds approaching the end of their structural lives.
Amit Mahajan, formerly a managing director at Macquarie Asset Management, will co-lead the team along with David Philipp, who joined Crestline in 2013.
The new division is an expansion of the firm's Crestline-Kirchner initiative, which was formed in 2013 to acquire, manage and invest in underperforming private equity assets, portfolios and funds.
Mahajan and Philipp will report to Douglas Bratton, managing partner and chief investment officer of Crestline.
"We see an unmet need in the market for a team that can work with GPs to help them maximise the value of their assets," says Bratton. "From 2008-2012, Crestline launched dedicated funds seeking to capitalise on the secondary hedge fund market created by the 2008 financial crisis. After successfully deploying more than USD1 billion across three funds, we are refocusing our efforts on what we feel is the next cyclical opportunity set."
"This is a natural evolution of our business and how we approach niche opportunities in the private equity markets," says Philipp. "We are witnessing rapid growth in several areas adjacent to the traditional secondary markets. With Amit on board, we can deliver the full set of resources, expertise, and capital to complete both LP-led and GP-led transactions."
The team also includes three specialist portfolio managers and a senior associate, with a combined 58 years of experience across principal investing, private equity fund management, workouts and restructurings.
"We estimate there are USD300-400 billion in private equity assets currently tied up in funds that have reached or are near their maturity dates," says Mahajan. "GPs and LPs are looking for alternative financing and liquidity solutions not met by traditional secondary markets. We want to help fill the current gap in the market by working directly with GPs and LPs to identify an exit strategy that fulfils the needs of all parties."
Mahajan has more than 16 years of experience in private equity portfolio financings, direct secondaries and general partner restructurings. While at Macquarie he was responsible for sourcing and executing private debt transactions ranging in size from USD15-250 million, with a focus on secondary private equity deals and portfolio financing for private equity funds.
Before that he was a director in the global private funds group at PineBridge Investments, where he was instrumental in building PineBridge's global secondary private equity platform, which totalled more than USD1.7 billion across three dedicated funds. While at PineBridge he sourced secondary deals and executed more than USD2 billion of transactions across fund and direct investments.
