Tortoise Credit Strategies is acquiring a majority stake in fixed-income money manager Bradford & Marzec, said separate news releases from the companies.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close at the end of the second quarter, were not disclosed. Tortoise is acquiring 63% of the firm, with the remaining 37% being acquired by 10 Bradford & Marzec employees.
Tortoise Credit Strategies, a unit of Tortoise Investments, was founded in 2015 and has $66 million in assets under management. The new combined firm will have the name Tortoise Credit Strategies. Investment strategies managed by the former Bradford & Marzec team will retain their current names.
Managing partners and senior portfolio managers Edward T. Bradford and Zelda Marzec will exit their equity positions in the firm they co-founded but will remain as employees “to ensure a smooth transition,” the Bradford & Marzec news release said. Mr. Bradford and Ms. Marzec and several senior employees were the owners of the firm.
“This is an exciting development for our company, and we firmly believe that Tortoise Credit is the right partner for Bradford & Marzec, our clients and our employees,” Mr. Bradford said in the news release. “We believe this transaction serves the best interest of our clients in the long term while facilitating a smooth management succession. It also provides significant alignment of interests through consistency and substantial employee ownership.”
Tortoise Investments has $13.1 billion in assets under management. Bradford & Marzec has more than $4 billion in AUM.
