Mubadala, AXA IM Prime Take Stakes in Private Lender Hayfin - Bloomberg

Mubadala, AXA IM Prime Take Stakes in Private Lender Hayfin - Bloomberg

Mubadala Investment Co. and AXA IM Prime are taking minority stakes in leading European private credit lender Hayfin Capital Management, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg News.

The move follows the management buyout of London-based Hayfin earlier this year. Arctos Keystone, an investment manager that helped finance the deal, is distributing some of its stake to AXA IM Prime and Mubadala.

The transaction will not lead to any changes in Hayfin’s strategy, investment process, leadership or day-to-day operations, the statement said. AXA IM Prime is a business unit of AXA Investment Managers, which is part of the BNP Paribas Group.

The partnership “reflects our conviction in Hayfin’s platform and leadership team and reinforces our strategy of backing high-quality asset managers that deliver value to all their stakeholders,” said Omar Eraiqaat, deputy CEO of the credit and special situations platform at Mubadala, in the statement.

The $1.7 trillion private credit market is rapidly expanding as more institutional investors pile money into the asset class, which competes with high-yield bonds and leverage loans to finance deals.

Large financial institutions such as banks and insurers are looking to break further into the industry. Earlier this month, UK insurer Legal & General signed a private credit partnership with Blackstone Inc. that the two firms aim to grow to up to $20 billion over the next five years. A direct lending partnership between Wells Fargo & Co. and Centerbridge Partners has arranged $2 billion in deals since the start of this year, bringing its total amount deployed to-date to $4.8 billion, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Hayfin, which has about €33 billion of assets under management, is one of the most prolific direct-lenders in Europe. Recent deals that the lender was involved in include unitranche loans to Belgian drugmaker SERB Pharmaceuticals and used car marketplace Constellation Automotive Group.

Tim Flynn, the co-CEO of Hayfin, said Mubadala and Axa IM Prime’s resources “will support Hayfin’s ongoing growth and delivery of value for our clients, investors, borrowers and sponsors.”