Apidos and CVC join forces to create transatlantic CLO manager

London-based CVC Capital Partners and Resource America have today announced that they have agreed to merge their credit management units to form CVC Credit Partners. As part of the deal, Resource America will sell the majority of Apidos Capital Management, receiving $25 million in cash and also retaining a 33% stake in the new manager.

The employees of both CVC Cordatus and Apidos will join CVC Credit Partners. The tie-up will see Gretchen Bergstresser (Apidos) and Jonathan Bowers (Cordatus) take up roles as senior portfolio managers in New York and London respectively.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of March. According to a recent Creditflux study, Apidos is the 18^th largest CLO manager globally with $5.9 billion of assets currently under management. The manager launched Apidos CLO VIII last year and also took over five Churchill Pacific CLOs. Prior to this announcement it was thought however that Resource America was looking to concentrate its efforts in the US having sold its sole European CLO, named Resource Europe CLO, to ICG a year ago.

CVC Cordatus on the other hand, currently manages three European CLOs totalling €1.7 billion, according to Creditflux data. CVC Credit Partners will have $7.5 billion of assets under management which includes a total of 21 vehicles in the US and Europe combined.