Hayfin is pleased to announce that it has provided the debt financing to support TowerBrook Capital Partners’ (“TowerBrook”) acquisition of a majority stake in IDAK Food Group (“IDAK”) from Invision and Nord Holding.

IDAK is a strongly networked group of specialised companies and manufacturers operating across the premium frozen food sector. In recent years, IDAK has delivered strong growth, both organically and inorganically through strategic acquisitions in Switzerland and further abroad.

The change of ownership will aim to grow IDAK’s capital base and provide the company with a platform to pursue further M&A opportunities across Europe. The well-established IDAK management team, led by CEO Christof Lehmann, will remain in place.

Robert da Costa, Director, Private Credit, commented: “Hayfin has a longstanding relationship with TowerBrook and we are pleased to provide the financing for this transaction. We have been impressed by IDAK’s management team who have delivered exceptional historical performance. We look forward to working with the IDAK team and supporting their continued growth trajectory alongside TowerBrook.”

Olaf Hartmann, Head of DACH and Portfolio Manager for Private Credit, added: “IDAK has become one of the most exciting European food businesses in recent years, and we are delighted to be partnering with them to support their next stage of growth. The transaction also demonstrates the benefits of our local footprint and the strength of our DACH franchise, an area where we see significant opportunities going forward.”

Disclosure
Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. No investment, strategy or tested process can guarantee results. Please note, fees reduce returns to investors.

Hayfin today announced it has entered into an agreement with Arctos Partners (“Arctos”), a private investment firm, to support a management buyout of the business, acquiring British Columbia Investment Management Corporation’s (“BCI”) majority stake. Financial terms were not disclosed.

This new partnership delivers Hayfin’s long-term objectives of greater team ownership, alignment, and incentivization, as well as generating superior and consistent risk-adjusted returns for clients. Arctos, via its Keystone strategy, which provides strategic partnership to leading financial sponsors, through bespoke growth capital and liquidity solutions, has underwritten 100 percent of the funding and will facilitate the Hayfin team becoming the majority owners of the common equity. BCI will remain a strategic limited partner in certain Hayfin funds.

Founded in 2009, Hayfin specializes in providing European and North American credit and private equity investment solutions to a global investor base. BCI acquired a majority stake in the firm in January 2017, and since that time Hayfin has experienced strong sustained growth and momentum, quadrupling its AUM, adding senior talent, and diversifying and expanding its strategies. Hayfin’s product offering now spans direct lending, special opportunities, tactical solutions, high-yield/syndicated loans, healthcare opportunities, maritime yield and private equity solutions.

Tim Flynn, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Hayfin, said: “This is an exciting new chapter that will support Hayfin’s ongoing growth while preserving our core identity and operational autonomy. Arctos has a best-in-class, like-minded team that recognizes the enormous opportunity available to investors in the credit markets today, and their experience only enhances our ability to serve our investors, borrowers and sponsors. Our long-standing team is grateful to BCI for the last seven years of successful collaboration, and we look forward to a continued relationship with them as an investor in our products.”

Ian Charles, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Arctos, said: “Hayfin has an excellent leadership team supported by a robust bench of talent, proven track record and disciplined investment style. Their strategic growth ambitions make them an ideal partner for Arctos Keystone and provides our investors access to Europe’s leading private credit platform as that market continues to see rapid growth. We look forward to supporting Hayfin’s long-tenured investment team in delivering our shared objective of generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for our respective investors.”

Jim Pittman, Executive Vice President & Global Head of Private Equity at BCI, said: “We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Hayfin and Arctos, delivering an excellent outcome for BCI’s pension plan and insurance clients. We’re extremely proud of the partnership we forged with the Hayfin team over the past seven years, which has delivered significant growth in a critical period for the private credit market. We remain confident in Hayfin’s investment strategies and are pleased to remain as a limited partner in certain funds.”

Hayfin is pleased to announce that it is the lead lender providing the debt financing to support the acquisition of international events company, Easyfairs, by Cobepa, Inflexion and the existing management team.

Easyfairs is one of the world’s top ten events companies, welcoming more than one million visitors annually and 23,000 exhibitors to its events. Easyfairs organises 110 event titles in 12 countries across 12 industry verticals. It also manages eight event venues in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The transaction will enable Easyfairs to drive faster organic growth through new event launches and geo-cloning of existing events, extend its geographic and sector footprint, enhance its position as a sector frontrunner in big data and artificial intelligence technologies, and unlock further strategic M&A opportunities.

Sebastiaan Tito, Principal, Direct Lending at Hayfin, commented: “Our investment into the acquisition of Easyfairs demonstrates Hayfin’s extensive experience in the events sector as well as our ability to successfully position ourselves in attractive market segments and execute financing agreements of significant scale to provide speed and certainty to our partners. We are excited to partner with the shareholders in supporting Easyfairs, a business with great potential, supported by a strong pipeline of organic and inorganic growth opportunities.”

Disclosure
Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. No investment, strategy or tested process can guarantee results. Please note, fees reduce returns to investors.

Hayfin today announces that, through its Private Equity Solutions strategy, it is acting as lead investor, together with Eurazeo, in the €220 million Continuation Fund raised by 21 Invest France to support the next phase of its ownership of ProductLife Group (“PLG”).

PLG is a global expert in regulatory affairs and compliance consulting for the healthcare industry. Serving more than 1,000 clients ranging from pharmaceutical companies, biotech and medtech companies, the group covers the entire lifecycle of pharmaceutical products, from development to post-marketing vigilance, across more than 150 countries. The company has expanded rapidly, driven by double-digit organic growth and 16 acquisitions in nine countries since 2020.

In addition to its management team, which is reinvesting significantly, PLG will be jointly controlled by Oakley Capital and 21 Invest France, which is reinvesting through its sixth fund vintage and the newly established Continuation Fund led by Hayfin and Eurazeo. Other investors are joining in syndication.

Gonzalo Erroz, Managing Director, Private Equity Solutions at Hayfin, commented: “We are delighted to partner with 21 Invest France to help support the continued growth of PLG at an exciting time for the business, as it seeks to expand its global presence and offering. The Continuation Fund will provide PLG with substantial resources to execute organic growth initiatives and pursue strategic acquisitions.”

Severin de Mortemart, Director, Private Equity Solutions at Hayfin, added: “This transaction further adds to our teams strong track record of identifying and supporting established sponsors in local markets on the continued growth trajectory of marquee assets in Hayfin’s core sectors of focus.”

Our main reasons for this view, outlined in greater detail in this paper, are:

 

Why Europe? Market Considerations for Private Credit

Read the full report

Hayfin announces the pricing of Hayfin Emerald CLO XIII (“Emerald XIII”), a €405.7 million Collateralised Loan Obligation (“CLO”).

Hayfin’s first European issuance of 2024 follows last year’s prints of Emerald CLO XII in November 2023 and Emerald CLO XI in January 2023. The transaction increases the AUM of Hayfin’s European CLO platform to more than €5.5 billion.

Like Hayfin’s previous CLOs in the Emerald series, Emerald XIII will invest in a diversified portfolio of European senior-secured loans and bonds. Hayfin secured a leading Japanese institutional allocator as anchor investor in the transaction with a preplacement of the AAA tranche. The strength of demand for Emerald XIII, from both new and existing investors in Hayfin’s European CLO platform, was further reflected in tight pricing achieved at all levels of the capital structure and the accelerated timeframe within which the transaction was executed.

Gina Germano, Hayfin Head of European High-Yield & Syndicated Loans, commented: “We believe this transaction emphasises our position as one of Europe’s leading and best-established high-yield credit managers. Our ability to lock in a blue-chip Japanese anchor investor in only six weeks, following a competitive process conducted prior to the launch of the deal, provides a strong foundation for our platform to establish future partnerships in this strategically important market. The competitive spreads at which the remaining notes priced reflects the confidence of both first-time and returning investors in our track record of credit selection and portfolio management.”

Hayfin today announces that it has arranged the debt financing of Eurazeo’s acquisition of Eres Group (“Eres”), a French employee savings distribution platform. Hayfin’s support for the acquisition extends its relationship with Eres, having been a lender to the business since IK Partners’ acquisition of Eres in 2019.

Established in 2005, Eres is the leading French independent player in the advisory and structuring, asset management and distribution of employee profit sharing plans (PEE, PERECO), retirement schemes (PER) and employee shareholding plans. Headquartered in Paris, Eres distributes its products through a network of more than 6,600 distributors (wealth management advisors, insurance brokers, accountants) and directly addresses mid-sized companies and large groups.

Clement Le Lagadec, Hayfin Director for Private Credit in France, commented: “Thanks to its strong knowledge of the company and its management, Hayfin has been able to quickly position itself as a lead lender in this highly competitive process. In this vein, we are delighted to support Eurazeo in the financing of this transaction. We have been impressed by Eres’ performance over the past five years and are excited to continue our journey with the company alongside its management and its new private equity partner Eurazeo.”

Disclaimer: Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. No investment, strategy or tested process can guarantee results. Please note, fees reduce returns to investors.

In recognition of International Women’s Day, Hayfin’s Global Women’s Initiative hosted a panel discussion centred around the theme of Empowerment.

The event was moderated by Gina Germano, Portfolio Manager and Head of Europe High-Yield & Syndicated Loans at Hayfin, and attended by guest speakers: Erika Tikka, Head of External Fixed Income at Keva; Laura Coady, Head of European Securitised Markets Group at Jefferies; and Marieke Van Dijk-Van Kamp, Head of Private Markets at NN. The women shared their career experiences in both the UK and Europe, reflected on progress made to date, and discussed what more can be done to facilitate an inclusive workplace to better attract and retain female talent across all levels of seniority.

For further insights, watch the panel discussion in full below.

Hayfin co-founder and CEO Tim Flynn was featured on Private Market Talks providing insight into the Hayfin team’s dynamic, innovative approach to direct lending and leveraged finance. Tim reflected on learnings from his career journey, from starting out as a beekeeper to founding a leading European alternative asset management firm, and how he applies the learnings from each experience to continue to enhance the Hayfin business. He also provides a view on the opportunities and challenges he sees within the private markets, and how these are informing Hayfin’s strategy.

Hayfin today announces that it has participated in the financing to support Bridgepoint’s acquisition of French residential property management services company Nexity ADB from its parent company Nexity Group.

Nexity Group is France’s largest publicly listed real estate developer. The carve-out of the residential property management services division will provide Nexity ADB with a stronger platform to grow the business as a standalone company.

Alban Senlis, Head of Hayfin Private Credit in France, commented: “We are pleased to be partnered with Bridgepoint, who have deep expertise and an outstanding track record in the sector. This is a highly attractive investment to Hayfin given the company’s solid and resilient trading performance, as well as its potential for further growth as an independent business with the right level of funding behind it. We look forward to working with our new partners as Nexity ABD embarks on its next phase of growth.” 

Disclaimer: Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. No investment, strategy or tested process can guarantee results. Please note, fees reduce returns to investors.