ADIA Anchors Pemberton’s New NAV Financing Strategy

Pemberton Asset Management (Pemberton), a leading European private credit manager, has announced that a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, has agreed to anchor Pemberton’s new NAV strategic financing strategy.

Together with commitments from other investors, ADIA’s investment is expected to result in a first close for the NAV Strategic Financing Strategy in excess of $1 billion in the coming weeks along with other investors.

NAV Strategic Financing capitalises on the growth of the private equity fund finance market to provide non-dilutive strategic capital solutions to private equity GPs and funds.

NAV loans, which leverage investment portfolios to access financing, are a non-dilutive tool that can boost liquidity for an illiquid fund, especially at later stages in its cycle. This form of financing is becoming increasingly popular among private equity players as traditional forms of capital-raising become harder to access.

Pemberton anticipates the strategy will provide GPs with growth capital to support increased fund commitments, succession planning and strategic initiatives, whilst also providing capital for accretive portfolio company investments such as bolt-on acquisitions.

The NAV Strategic Financing Strategy is a natural extension of Pemberton’s market-leading direct lending platform, which currently offers lending solutions for individual assets, and enables Pemberton to offer a broader range of products to its private equity buyout community.

Growing Interest in NAV Loans

Symon Drake-Brockman, Managing Partner of Pemberton, said that ADIA’s anchor commitment reflects the growing interest in the NAV asset class, the strength of Pemberton’s private credit platform and their ability to deliver a broad range of financing solutions to private equity managers. “Pemberton believes that NAV financing will become a core fund financing tool and, with ADIA’s support, we look forward to offering this innovative solution to our clients,” he said.

Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, Executive Director of the Private Equities Department at ADIA, said that Pemberton is one of the leading private credit managers in Europe with a highly experienced team and a deep network across the GP community.

“NAV Financing is one of the fastest growing asset classes in private credit and we are confident Pemberton’s new strategy will prove attractive to a broad range of GPs,” he added.

Thomas Doyle, Partner and Head of Strategic Financing at Pemberton, said that this anchor commitment from ADIA is an indicator that NAV Financing is becoming a standalone institutional asset class, which they believe is set to substantially grow over the next years.

NAV Financing leverages the proven strength of our broad origination and credit risk management capabilities to provide innovative financing solutions for GPs globally, Doyle added.

Pemberton’s investor base is global and includes long-term partnerships with insurance companies, corporate and public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, private wealth managers and other institutional investors.

ADIA’s Other Investments

It may be recalled that ADIA, which has assets worth more than $968 billion, has recently invested $1 billion into Barclays and AGL Credit Management’s new private credit fund, and shored up its commitment to London-based alternative asset manager Cheyne Capital’s capital solutions strategy to $832.71 million.

ADIA also ventured into private credit in September, backing a $5 billion fund launched by Wells Fargo alongside asset manager Centerbridge and invested $932 million in Australian real estate private credit company Qualitas Diversified Credit Investments.