Today, we are announcing that Arcmont has agreed to become an affiliate of Nuveen, the investment management arm of TIAA. A copy of the press release appears here.
This is an exciting and very important strategic step forward for Arcmont. Joining Nuveen will bring significant benefits for our business, and our ability to serve investors and borrowers, as we seek to take advantage of the rapidly growing global market opportunity in private debt.
TIAA is the leading US not-for-profit retirement benefits provider, serving 15,000 institutions and 5 million retail investors. Nuveen, TIAA’s asset management subsidiary, manages c.$1.1 trillion across a range of asset classes and has operations in 27 countries. Nuveen already owns another private debt and private equity investment affiliate, Churchill Asset Management, which is very similar to Arcmont, but operates solely in North America.
As an affiliate of Nuveen, we will continue to operate as usual under the Arcmont brand, managed by the current leadership team, including me as CEO, ensuring the continuity of the existing Arcmont business. There will be no change to our team, investment committee or processes.
Although continuing to operate as distinct businesses, Arcmont and Churchill will work together in partnership under a new entity, Nuveen Private Capital, to drive synergies and create opportunities for investors and corporate borrowers across a broader range of products and financing options. We see significant benefits from the combination:
- Global Scale – Nuveen Private Capital will be one of the world’s largest private debt managers, with more than $60 billion in combined committed capital. With 240 investment and support professionals, Arcmont and Churchill serve a combined investor base of approximately 600 institutional and family office investors.
- Enhanced market offering – we expect to extend our market position in our core franchise of upper middle-market lending in Europe but, with our greater scale and enhanced capabilities, we will continue to target larger deals, including global financing options.
- Complementary strategies – with the support of Nuveen, we will collaborate with our new partners at Churchill to expand into new strategies, which are adjacent and complementary to our business, offering a broader range of products to investors.
- Access to capital and distribution – Nuveen will support our growth by giving us access to their distribution and capital. TIAA is the world’s largest allocator to private debt and has made multi-billion commitments to Churchill’s funds.
- Strong alignment of interest – as part of the transaction structure, the Arcmont and Churchill teams will become material shareholders in Nuveen Private Capital and Ken Kencel, President and CEO of Churchill, and I will become co-CEOs of Nuveen Private Capital, ensuring a strong long-term alignment between management, shareholders and investors. Our teams will continue to be incentivised through equity and carried interest as before.
Over the last decade, Arcmont has become one of the leading private debt firms in Europe and one of the few lenders with the ability to execute larger transactions. The private debt industry in Europe has seen tremendous growth in recent years and we believe this is set to continue, particularly given the supportive macro market drivers. As transactions grow larger, scale is increasingly important, and this combination substantially enhances our ability to provide investors with access to high-quality and globally diversified private credit opportunities.
