Wholly owned subsidiaries of Canadian pension fund British Columbia Investment Management Corp., Victoria, and sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, will be anchor investors in a direct lending fund to be formed by Centerbridge Partners and Wells Fargo & Co.
Centerbridge plans to launch Overland Advisors, which will manage a newly formed business development company that will focus on direct lending to nonsponsor North American middle market companies, said a Sept. 26 release.
Overland is targeting a minimum of $5 billion in investable capital, including $2.5 billion in equity commitments for this strategy.
The subsidiaries of ADIA and BCI have committed to provide almost $2 billion in initial equity commitments. A spokesperson for BCI confirmed that the $2 billion represents a combined figure for both firms.
Overland will be primarily focused on making senior secured loans, the release noted. Overland will also pursue other transactions, including traditional sponsor-backed direct lending opportunities.
Overland Advisors will be controlled by Centerbridge Partners, while Wells Fargo will serve as a minority investor, the release added.
Daniel Garant, executive vice president and global head-public markets at BCI, stated in the release that direct lending "provides an important alternative financing source for middle market businesses. We believe Overland takes that to the next level by broadening and diversifying the types of businesses served, and we are pleased to be making this meaningful long-term investment."
Centerbridge Partners is a private investment management firm with about $36 billion in capital under management as of June 30.
BCI reported net assets under management of C$215 billion ($158.7 billion) as of March 31.
ADIA has about $853 billion in assets, according to Sovereign Wealth Institute.
According to its second quarter earnings release, Wells Fargo had about $2 trillion in total client assets.
Neither Wells Fargo nor Centerbridge could be immediately reached for further details.
