Crestline Investors, a credit focused institutional alternative asset manager, has closed its third Opportunity Fund (Opportunity Fund III). Opportunity Fund III, and related managed accounts, secured over USD1.34 billion in capital commitments, exceeding the fundraising objective.
Investors in the strategy include leading public and private pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and other institutional investors.
The new fund is the ninth in Crestline’s series of opportunistic funds, which started in 2005 and have attracted more than USD5.6 billion in client commitments to date. Each of the funds is managed by Crestline’s Credit Strategies team, which has closed over 75 transactions.
The investment strategy seeks to take advantage of dislocations and inefficiencies in the primary and secondary credit markets in North America and Europe. The fund focuses on under-served or capital constrained asset classes, including SMEs, out-of-favour sectors, companies in transition and stressed or special situations. The fund provides sub-USD50 million capital solutions in the form of direct lending, distressed credit, and structured finance, among others.
Crestline Opportunity Fund III follows the same direct investment strategy as its predecessor, the Crestline Opportunity Fund II. The Opportunity Fund II Strategy closed in March 2014 with USD980 million in commitments.
“Our priority is to identify and execute on attractive investment opportunities across the credit and opportunistic spectrum. With 23 investment professionals in the US and Europe, we believe we are well positioned to identify opportunities that can continue to deliver high risk adjusted returns to our investors,” says Douglas Bratton, Managing Partner & CIO of Crestline.
“There are large numbers of companies in the North American and European markets with capital requirements that are not easily addressed by traditional capital providers. We help fill that gap with flexible capital solutions below USD50 million with a focus on downside protection and risk mitigation,” says Keith Williams (pictured), Partner at Crestline and Senior Portfolio Manager of Crestline Opportunity Fund III.
