Janus Henderson Steps Up Private Credit Capabilities With Acquisition

Editorial Staff

15 August 2024

New York-headquartered Janus Henderson has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Victory Park Capital Advisors, a global private credit manager, highlighting how this asset class remains a hot-button investment topic.

The purchased business – founded in 2007 – has specialized in asset-backed lending since 2010. The areas it covers include small business and consumer finance, financial and hard assets, and real estate credit. Its capabilities also embrace legal finance, custom investment sourcing, and management for insurance companies.

The acquisition consideration, which is a mix of cash and shares of Janus Henderson common stock, is expected to be neutral-to-accretive to earnings per share in 2025. The firm said it expects to close the deal in the fourth quarter of 2024; the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

The specific financial sum involved wasn’t disclosed.

Janus Henderson said VPC complements its securitized credit franchise and expertise in public asset-backed securitized markets.

This partnership is “highly synergistic,” Janus Henderson said.

VPC, which was founded by Richard Levy and Brendan Carroll, is headquartered in Chicago. The firm also offers structured financing and capital markets solutions through its affiliate platform, Triumph Capital Markets. Since inception, VPC has invested about $10.3 billion across over 220 investments and has assets under management of about $6.0 billion.

The acquisition follows Janus Henderson’s recent announcement that it will acquire the National Bank of Kuwait’s emerging markets private investments team, NBK Capital Partners, which is expected to close later this year.

Ardea Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to VPC. Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal counsel to VPC and Sheppard Mullin acted as legal counsel to Janus Henderson.