Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, an alternative-credit manager with about $14 billion under management, is exploring strategic options including an outright sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The firm, co-founded by David Chene and Darren Richman, is working with an adviser to solicit interest from potential suitors, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. No specific deal has been decided upon.
The firm may be valued at more than $800 million in an outright transaction, one of the people said.
A Kennedy Lewis spokesman declined to comment.
The firm, led by Chene, Richman and co-managing partner Doug Logigian, manages capital through various funds, a business-development company and collateralized-loan obligations business known as Generate Advisors, formed through a partnership with York Capital Management. It focuses on opportunistic credit, homebuilder finance and broadly syndicated loan strategies, among others. The New York-based firm targets both performing and stressed investments in the US and Europe, its website shows.
Any sale of the firm comes as alternative-asset managers seek to capture larger allocations from institutional investors such as sovereign-wealth funds, pension funds, family offices and endowments.
TPG Inc. this year purchased credit and real estate-focused Angelo Gordon & Co., a move that boosted its assets under management by $74 billion. General Atlantic, which in April completed its purchase of Iron Park Capital Partners, has outlined plans to expand beyond its growth equity roots, while CVC Advisers agreed in September to buy infrastructure investor DIF Capital Partners. And last year, Carlyle Group Inc. bought a portfolio of assets from Eldridge’s CBAM Partners.
Read More: Kennedy Lewis Raises $4.1 Billion to Ride Private-Credit Wave
(Updates with potential deal value in third paragraph.)
