Crestline Investors Creates Private Equity Credit and Fund Restructuring Team

FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Crestline Investors, Inc. ("Crestline"), a credit-focused institutional alternative asset manager, today announced the creation of a Private Equity Credit and Fund Restructuring team to actively pursue niche financing opportunities in the private equity markets. This dedicated group will focus on providing bespoke capital solutions, including preferred equity and flexible debt structures, to mature private equity funds approaching the end of their structural lives.

Amit Mahajan, formerly a Managing Director at Macquarie Asset Management, will co-lead the team along with David Philipp, who joined Crestline in 2013. The new division is an expansion of the firm's Crestline-Kirchner initiative, which was formed in 2013 to acquire, manage and invest in underperforming private equity assets, portfolios and funds. Both Mahajan and Philipp will report to Douglas Bratton, Managing Partner & CIO of Crestline.

"We see an unmet need in the market for a team that can work with GPs to help them maximize the value of their assets," said Bratton. "From 2008-2012, Crestline launched dedicated funds seeking to capitalize on the secondary hedge fund market created by the 2008 financial crisis. After successfully deploying more than $1 billion across three funds, we are refocusing our efforts on what we feel is the next cyclical opportunity set."

"This is a natural evolution of our business and how we approach niche opportunities in the private equity markets," said Philipp, a Managing Director at Crestline. "We are witnessing rapid growth in several areas adjacent to the traditional secondary markets. With Amit onboard, we can deliver the full set of resources, expertise, and capital to complete both LP-led and GP-led transactions."

The PE Credit and Fund Restructuring team also includes three specialist portfolio managers and a senior associate, with a combined 58 years of experience across principal investing, private equity fund management, workouts and restructurings.

"We estimate there are $300-400 billion in private equity assets currently tied up in funds that have reached or are near their maturity dates," said Mahajan. "GPs and LPs are looking for alternative financing and liquidity solutions not met by traditional secondary markets. We want to help fill the current gap in the market by working directly with GPs and LPs to identify an exit strategy that fulfills the needs of all parties." 

Mahajan has more than 16 years of experience in private equity portfolio financings, direct secondaries and general partner restructurings. While at Macquarie he was responsible for sourcing and executing private debt transactions ranging in size from $15-250 million, with a focus on secondary private equity deals and portfolio financing for private equity funds.

Before that he was a Director in the Global Private Funds Group at PineBridge Investments, where he was instrumental in building PineBridge's global secondary private equity platform, which totaled more than $1.7 billion across three dedicated funds. While at PineBridge he sourced secondary deals and executed more than $2 billion of transactions across fund and direct investments. Mahajan received his MBA from Columbia Business School, and a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology.

About Crestline Investors, Inc.
Crestline Investors, Inc., founded in 1997 and based in Fort Worth, Texas, is a credit focused institutional alternative investment management firm with approximately $9.5 billion of assets under management. Crestline specializes in credit and opportunistic investments. In addition, the firm manages a multi-PM equity market-neutral hedge fund, and provides Beta and Hedging Solutions for Institutional clients. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the company maintains affiliate offices in New York City, Chicago, London, Toronto and Tokyo. For more information, please visit www.crestlineinvestors.com.

Media Contact:
Dmitriy Ioselevich
212-279-3115 ext. 243
[email protected]  

SOURCE Crestline Investors, Inc.

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