Wellfleet Credit Partners, the credit business of private investment firm Littlejohn & Co, has closed a USD457.8 million collateralised loan obligation (CLO), Wellfleet CLO 2017-1, the fourth CLO issuance for the firm.
Benefitting from supportive market conditions and investor receptivity, CLO 2017-1 was upsized approximately USD50.0 million during marketing.
With the completion of this CLO, Wellfleet is managing four CLOs that total over USD1.5 billion in aggregate.
The CLO will be backed by a diversified portfolio of broadly syndicated senior secured loans. Five classes of notes rated Aaa through Ba3 by Moody’s and one class of notes rated AAA by Fitch totalling USD414.2 million were placed.
In addition to several non-affiliated investors, Littlejohn funds, as well as its partners, invested in the CLO.
The CLO vehicle will have a two-year non-call and a four-year reinvestment period with a final maturity of 12 years. Wellfleet will retain equity through a majority-owned affiliate in order to comply with US risk retention requirements.
Scott McKay (pictured), Wellfleet portfolio manager, says: “We are appreciative of the support that the transaction received from our existing investors, and that we also added many new investors across the capital structure. With this CLO, Wellfleet was able to draw upon a global investor base.”
Wellfleet Credit Partners was established in 2015 as part of the Littlejohn Debt Management business.
Dennis Talley, Wellfleet portfolio manager, says: “We are pleased that we have navigated varying market environments to both invest in underlying credits, as well as to be a consistent issuer of new CLO vehicles. We look forward to continuing to grow the Wellfleet business.”
Citigroup Global Markets acted as the arranger for the CLO. Dechert acted as legal adviser to Wellfleet.
