In response to recent media coverage, Owl Rock Capital Group (“Owl Rock”) and Dyal Capital Partners (“Dyal”) today confirmed they are in discussions regarding a potential strategic combination.
The potential combination would bring together two industry leading investment platforms that provide capital solutions to the alternative asset management industry: Owl Rock’s direct lending platform, which provides financing to middle-market companies (most of which are owned or sponsored by alternative asset managers), and Dyal, which provides capital solutions and strategic support to alternative asset managers.
The founders of Owl Rock and Dyal would lead the stand-alone firm, and the investment teams and processes would remain unchanged. The Owl Rock and Dyal founders, alongside Neuberger Berman Group (“Neuberger Berman”), the parent of Dyal, would own meaningful positions in the combined business.
The parties have signed a non-binding letter of intent and are engaged in exclusive negotiations with Altimar Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, to facilitate the potential combination.
Discussions between all parties are ongoing and may not progress or result in a definitive transaction. Entering into any such transaction would be subject to continuing diligence, the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements as well as corporate approvals.
Owl Rock Capital Group, together with its subsidiaries (“Owl Rock”), is a New York based direct lending platform with approximately $23.7 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2020. Owl Rock’s platform consists of multiple investment funds and products including business development companies. Owl Rock is comprised of a team of seasoned investment professionals with significant and diverse experience from some of the world’s leading investment firms and financial institutions. Owl Rock’s relationship-oriented approach to investing seeks to provide companies with sizeable commitments to facilitate transactions and support their growth needs with certainty, speed and transparency throughout the entire investment process.
Dyal Capital seeks to acquire minority equity stakes in and provide financing to established alternative asset managers. With over a decade of experience transacting with institutional financial firms, our team has completed over 50 equity and debt transactions and manages approximately $21.9 billion in aggregate capital commitments as of September 30, 2020. Central to Dyal’s success is our Business Services Platform (the “BSP”). The BSP is a team that provides strategic support to our underlying partners in various areas, which we broadly divide into two categories: Capital Strategy and Advisory Services. Part of Neuberger Berman, the Dyal team is located in New York, London, and Hong Kong.