Aristotle expands credit offerings with acquisition of Pacific Asset Management from Pacific Life
Aristotle Capital Management , an investment management organization that specializes in equity and fixed income portfolio management for institutional and advisory clients worldwide, and Pacific Life , a mutual life insurance company, have announced Aristotle’s planned acquisition of Pacific Life’s third-party credit asset management firm, Pacific Asset Management, whose clients include Pacific Funds. As part of the transaction, Pacific Life will receive a minority interest in Aristotle. Aristotle also announced that subsequent to the close of the transaction, Pacific Asset Management will be known as Aristotle Pacific .
“We are pleased to welcome the PAM team to the Aristotle family,” said Richard S. Hollander, Chairman of Aristotle. “We have a proven history of identifying the right partners, who share our client-focused investment approach. In all our discussions with the PAM team, we have found their culture and principles to be complementary to ours. We look forward to joining forces to continue to meet our clients’ needs.”
The transaction represents $20.7 billion in assets under management and over 50 professionals, including 23 investment team members, to Aristotle.
“Aristotle’s investment management mindset, entrepreneurial culture and robust infrastructure will strengthen our business as we continue to deliver for our clients,” said Dominic Nolan, CFA, Chief Executive Officer of PAM. “I am thankful for where we have come from and couldn’t be happier about where we are going.”
The acquisition fits into Aristotle’s strategy to thoughtfully expand product offerings and identify investment talent as well as to broaden Aristotle’s fixed income business. The transaction will bring together two complementary businesses and includes an ongoing strategic partnership between Pacific Life and Aristotle.
“We are excited to partner with Aristotle through this transaction,” said Adrian Griggs, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Pacific Life. “Due to the complementary nature of our businesses, we believe this enhances growth opportunities for PAM, Aristotle and Pacific Life’s retail distribution group.”
Following the close of the transaction, PAM will operate as Aristotle Pacific led by Dominic Nolan, CFA as Chief Executive Officer. PAM will maintain its investment approach, business focus, and client service while being better positioned to achieve additional scale and have access to broader distribution with Aristotle. Aristotle will evaluate capitalizing on opportunities between Aristotle Pacific and affiliate Aristotle Credit Partners (“Aristotle Credit”) to deliver credit and fixed income solutions to their clients. Aristotle Credit will benefit from the addition of fixed income professionals joining the Aristotle family.
The transaction is expected to close during the first half of 2023. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Closing is subject to customary approvals, conditions and concepts.
