Manulife to acquire Comvest Credit Partners
Manulife, through its more than US$900 billion Global Wealth and Asset Management segment, announced it has signed an agreement to acquire 75% of Comvest Credit Partners for $937.5 million in upfront consideration.
Comvest is a “rapidly growing,” middle market direct lending private credit manager with $14.7 billion on its platform. As part of the agreement, Manulife will align its $3.7 billion Senior Credit team with Comvest, creating a leading $18.4 billion private credit asset management platform.
Manulife intends to co-brand the new platform as Manulife | Comvest.
In addition to the upfront consideration, Comvest will be eligible for additional consideration of up to $337.5 million, contingent on achieving certain performance targets. The agreement provides Manulife the ability to purchase the remaining 25% through a put/call mechanism.
Manulife’s existing Senior Credit business and Comvest are highly complementary given the different areas of the market they focus upon. Comvest is focused on non-sponsor backed middle market direct lending and other specialty lending, while Manulife has built a strong reputation over the last decade serving the private equity sponsor-backed market, and these deep sponsor relationships will benefit the aligned platform going forward.
“With a continued focus on disciplined, strategic capital deployment, our acquisition of Comvest Credit Partners further enhances our private markets platform by adding differentiated capabilities in private credit. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to core EPS, core ROE and core EBITDA margin, it will contribute to the strong growth trajectory of our broader Global Wealth and Asset Management business.” – Phil Witherington, Manulife President & Chief Executive Officer.
“We are excited to see the continued growth and maturity of private credit as an asset class, providing flexible, tailored financing to businesses that are underserved by traditional lenders, while offering investors attractive, risk-adjusted returns. We are thrilled to welcome Comvest’s exceptionally talented team of investment professionals. This acquisition, coupled with our acquisition last year of CQS, demonstrates our commitment to thoughtfully grow our business and offer a broader range of investment solutions to our institutional, retail, and retirement clients.” – Paul Lorentz, President & CEO of Manulife Wealth and Asset Management.
“This partnership is an important step forward for Comvest and will meaningfully strengthen our market position. From the outset, the synergies between Comvest and Manulife have been clear, we share a disciplined approach to credit, a client-first mindset, and a strong focus on team culture. Manulife’s deep relationships with private equity sponsors, robust sourcing capabilities, financial strength, and broad distribution platform will help us scale our differentiated private credit strategy and unlock new opportunities.” – Robert O’Sullivan, Comvest Credit Partners Chief Executive Officer.
