CQS Enters CLO Equity Strategic Investment Agreement with Jefferies and Investment Managers

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CQS today announced that it has entered into a strategic investment agreement with Jefferies and three investment management firms to support the new issuance of U.S. collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) on the CQS platform.

Under the terms of the agreement, Jefferies and the investment management firms will provide CLO equity capital and warehouse funding to support the new issuance of four to five CQS CLOs over the next two to three years, subject to certain conditions.  As strategic investors, Jefferies and the investment management firms will share in the growth of the CQS CLO platform, but are otherwise not involved in the management of the applicable CLOs.  Each of the investors will make their own independent decisions regarding the potential purchase or sale of any such CLO equity.

The CQS US CLO Platform, led by Jim Fitzpatrick, is supported by the breadth and depth of the CQS global research capability, including 19 corporate credit analysts with an average of 15 years' experience located across the U.S. and Europe. The launch builds upon the existing CQS European CLO platform.   

Sir Michael Hintze, Founder and Co-CEO of CQS, said, "We are delighted to be working with our new strategic investors as we build solutions for CLO investors to access our U.S. Loan investment expertise. With the experience and performance of our global Loans platform in multi strategy and CLO format, we believe our disciplined investment approach will continue to deliver best in class returns for our partners and broader CLO investors." 

Jason Schechter, Head of CLO Origination and Trading at Jefferies, said, "We are excited about entering this relationship with CQS and the other strategic investors, which — coupled with CQS's depth and breadth in Senior Secured Loan investing, its extremely strong and coordinated Global Loan Team, and its experience managing European CLOs — will provide an excellent foundation for a world class U.S. CLO manager."

About CQS
CQS is a $21.6bn credit focused multi-strategy asset manager founded in 1999. The firm has a longstanding track record of managing US and European Loans through Multi-Asset Credit investing, Global Loan portfolios and European CLOs, currently with a combined $6bn actively invested within the asset class.

About Jefferies
Jefferies Group LLC is the largest independent, global, full-service investment banking firm headquartered in the U.S. Focused on serving clients for nearly 60 years, Jefferies is a leader in providing insight, expertise and execution to investors, companies and governments. Our firm provides a full range of investment banking, advisory, sales and trading, research and wealth management services across all products in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Jefferies Group LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF), a diversified financial services company.

SOURCE CQS