Churchill Asset Management (an investment-specialist affiliate of Nuveen focused on middle-market private debt and private equity solutions) and Dawson Partners (a global alternative asset manager focused on providing innovative structured solutions to the private markets) announced the closing of a $425 million transaction.
The deal (solely financed by Dawson vehicles) served as an alternative solution to a traditional secondary sale, delivering liquidity to Churchill investors on a curated portfolio of 19 high-quality buyout fund interests. And the structure offers Dawson vehicles with downside protection and upside participation, and Churchill investors with immediate liquidity and future upside potential. The deal further secured strategic unfunded capital for supporting the growth of Churchill’s middle-market GP-led secondaries and equity co-investment platforms.
Churchill has been an active equity co-investor exclusively focused on the U.S. middle market for over a decade, deploying in excess of $4 billion within the strategy. Churchill formally launched its secondary platform in 2022 and is now managing over $1.5 billion of committed capital across its GP-led and LP-led programs.
Dawson emphasizes in providing innovative structured solutions to the private markets by taking a differentiated approach to selecting, curating, structuring, and managing bespoke portfolios. And Dawson seeks to provide liquidity at scale with customized solutions to users of its capital while seeking to provide its investors with unique and differentiated product offerings. Since its founding, Dawson has raised over $17 billion in commitments and has deployed over US$22 billion across more than 225 transactions.
Churchill is an investment specialist affiliate of Nuveen (the asset manager of TIAA) and provides customized financing solutions to middle-market private equity firms and their portfolio companies across the capital structure. And with over $50 billion of committed capital, Churchill provides first lien, unitranche, second lien and mezzanine debt, in addition to equity co-investments, secondary solutions and private equity fund commitments.
Evercore acted as the exclusive financial advisor on the transaction.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our focus is to always approach transactions with a partnership first mentality, and we seek to find the win-win in all that we do. Leveraging our scale, we were able to provide a large, customized solution that aligned with Churchill’s objectives, while also benefitting from a downside protected structure on a highly diversified portfolio of private equity with meaningful participation in any future upside. We’re excited to work with Churchill given their experience and the strength of their private capital platform. They are a trusted partner, and we value their differentiated access to the U.S. middle market.”
– Rob Gavin, Partner at Dawson
“This transaction achieves several objectives for our firm. It delivers material liquidity for our investors, and supports the continued growth of Churchill’s secondaries platform and leading equity co-investment business. We thank the Dawson team for their partnership, structural creativity and ability to provide a comprehensive solution with speed and certainty.”
– Nick Lawler, Managing Director and Head of Secondaries at Churchill
