THL Credit Advisors, the credit affiliate of private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, acquired a credit group from McDonnell Investment Management.
THL purchased the alternative credit strategies business from McDonnell. James Fellows, Brian Good, Robert Hickey and Michael Herzig have joined THL Credit Advisors capital market investment business to lead the THL Credit Senior Loan Strategies group.
THL Credit Advisors CEO and CIO James Hunt said in a statement that the new team will help his unit cover increasing opportunities in the high yield bonds and leveraged loan markets.
THL Credit Advisors manages approximately $2.8 billion in assets, with $2.5 billion of that coming from the new McDonnell group. It is headquartered in Boston and has a presence in Chicago, Houston, New York and Los Angeles.
The move marks the latest effort on the part of a large private equity group to step into leveraged finance asset management. This past April, Carlyle Group bought the management contracts of four European CLOs with total assets of €2.1 billion from Highland Capital Management, an alternative asset management firm based in Dallas. Last December, Apollo Global Management agreed to acquire Stone Tower Capital, an investment firm that manages 12 collateralized loan obligations. Stone Tower, which managed $17 billion in corporate credit funds, was merged with Apollo’s capital markets business.
