Adams Street Partners: $1 Billion Raised For First Middle Market CLO

By Amit Chowdhry • Apr 12, 2024

The Private Credit team of Adams Street Partners, a private markets investment firm with over $58 billion in assets under management, announced the final closing of a $1 billion middle market collateralized loan obligation (CLO), ASP Summa. And the CLO is a first for Adams Street and was structured in partnership with American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company, a leading issuer of fixed index annuities.

ASP Summa was comprised of a high-conviction portfolio of senior loans issued by private equity-backed mid-market companies, and it originated through Adams Street’s Private Credit team.

Adams Street Partners’ Private Credit team manages $9.7 billion in AUM and offers a full range of debt solutions to middle-market companies across the capital structure. In 2021, Adams Street and American Equity Life entered into a $2 billion joint venture partnership to co-develop insurer capital-efficient products in middle-market credit.

KEY QUOTES:

“Adams Street’s first CLO represents a significant milestone for our private credit business. This is expected to be a capital efficient solution that will demonstrate the power of our investment platform and ability to deliver attractive solutions to AEL and insurance companies globally.”

– Bill Sacher, Partner & Head of Private Credit at Adams Street

“We are proud to partner with Adams Street on the creation of our inaugural middle market credit CLO. By combining our knowledge and expertise in insurance investment structuring with Adams Street’s lending platform which is among the best in class in the middle market, we believe we have created a superior capital solution that can deliver on key objectives outlined in AEL 2.0 and create significant value for both our policyholders and shareholders.”

– Anant Bhalla, CEO of AEL