Credit Suisse has reached an agreement to spin off its DLJ Investment Partners business, including the existing investment team led by Igor DaCosta and Charles Harper, to Portfolio Advisors, an investment advisor and fund-of funds management company. Messrs. DaCosta and Harper will continue to manage the DLJIP Funds and all other investment professionals of DLJIP are expected to join Portfolio Advisors.
DLJ Investment Partners (DLJIP) provides mezzanine debt and equity capital primarily to middle market companies in connection with the financing of leveraged buyout transactions or in support of growth, acquisition, recapitalization and refinancing activity. Since its inception in 1995, DLJIP has raised $3.6 billion of capital commitments dedicated to mezzanine investing and has completed 75 transactions across its various funds.
As a result of the spin off, Portfolio Advisors will become the new investment manager of DLJ Investment Partners, LP; DLJ Investment Partners II, LP; and DLJ Investment Partners III, LP (collectively, the DLJIP Funds). These three funds are nearly fully invested and it is expected that Portfolio Advisors will raise a new mezzanine fund next year.
“The DLJIP team is extremely pleased to be joining Portfolio Advisors, a highly respected name in the private equity fund investing space,” said Igor DaCosta and Charles Harper, Co-Heads of DLJIP. “Their emphasis on private equity investing and long term approach will serve our limited partners well and should increase our mezzanine opportunity set going forward.”
Portfolio Advisors provides investment advisory services on both a discretionary and non-discretionary basis and has approximately $30 billion in assets under management. The firm is also a private equity and private real estate fund-of-funds manager, and has sponsored 19 funds which, in the aggregate, represent over $7 billion in investor commitments. Portfolio Advisors is headquartered in Darien, CT (www.portad.com).
“We are excited that the DLJIP team is joining the Portfolio Advisors platform. The DLJIP team is a group of highly talented and experienced investors and we share significant relationships across both general partners and limited partners. As a result, we view this as an important opportunity to continue to grow our firm and our franchise in private credit,” said Brian Murphy, a Managing Director of Portfolio Advisors.
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 11-7-13