MidOcean Partners, a New York-based alternative asset manager specializing in middle-market private equity, alternative credit, and structured capital, announced the successful final close of MidOcean CLO Equity Fund I (the “Fund”) with $304 million of capital commitments, exceeding its $300 million target. The Fund received strong support from a diverse base of institutional investors including existing MidOcean clients as well as significant new relationships for the Firm.
The Fund seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns by purchasing equity in CLOs managed by MidOcean’s experienced team. Led by CLO industry veterans Joseph Rotondo and Jamil Nathoo, the team leverages a defensive investment strategy with the goal of creating a diversified and down-side protected portfolio of senior secured leveraged loans, weighted toward the larger and more liquid end of the broadly syndicated bank loan market. To date, the Fund has deployed approximately 55% of its capital across seven MidOcean CLOs, representing $2.8 billion of AUM, and bringing total Firm CLO AUM to nearly $5.0 billion.
Rotondo, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager, said, “We are pleased to close our debut CLO equity fund, which represents a significant milestone for MidOcean as we continue to expand our credit platform’s capabilities and best position the Firm to capitalize on the $1 trillion and growing CLO market opportunity. We are grateful to our investors for their trust and are committed, as always, to being excellent stewards of their capital. We believe today’s market provides a unique opportunity to identify credits that will perform well through the credit cycle and look forward to executing on that opportunity for the benefit of our investors.”
Nathoo, Managing Director, added, “We believe MidOcean’s long track record in the CLO sector, combined with our innovative fund structure and differentiated investment approach, contributed to the demand for this product by sophisticated investors. This capital will enable us to be nimble and opportunistic during an exciting and dynamic time for the CLO market.”
Dana Carey, CIO of MidOcean’s credit platform, concluded, “The growth of our CLO management and investment capabilities over the past two years has been a key factor in scaling our credit platform. Looking ahead, we will continue developing creative ways for our investors to access the credit markets and expand our credit platform commensurate with the attractive opportunities we see before us.”
MidOcean has been active in the CLO space for more than a decade. Since 2022, the Firm has led the issuance of seven new MidOcean CLOs and the refinancings of five existing MidOcean CLOs. The successful closing of the Fund adds to the strong momentum and expansion of MidOcean’s credit platform following the close of MidOcean Tactical Credit III with $765 million of commitments across the strategy.