New JV between Carlyle GC and Australian investment firm

Oksana Patron

26 August 2022

New private credit joint venture has been formed between global investment firm Carlyle’s Global Credit platform and Australia-based credit investment firm amicaa as banks shift their focus away from corporate lending.

The JV would aim to capitalise on companies seeking out private capital in Australia and New Zealand to fund acquisitions and other growth initiatives requiring grater flexibility with tailored debt facilities typically offered by private credit providers.

Under the terms of the deal, amicaa’s local team would source opportunities on the ground while Carlyle would provide access to the investment tools, processes and specialist resources of its US$143 billion global credit platform.

Also, the platform would manage two strategies, the amicaa Core Plus strategy, focused on stable returns from Australian and New Zealand corporate loan investments, and the amicaa Credit Opportunities strategy, which offered financial solutions to companies going through transition and where a tailored capital was required outside of the normal course of business.

Carlyle’s activity in the partnership would be led by Taj Sidhu, managing director with Carlyle Global Credit, and Jay Ditmarsch, a member of the Carlyle Credit Opportunities team within Carlyle’s Global Credit platform.

According to Sidhu, Australia and New Zealand as structurally growing markets represented “a multi-billion dollar opportunity to deploy capital”.

Carlyle would invest capital from its Credit Opportunities strategy, which deployed over US$8 billion globally and which formed part of Carlyle Global Credit, its fastest growing business managing US$143 billion of assets as of June 30, 2022.

amicca was formed in 2019 and is managed by its local founders, including David Wood, chief executive, and Cathy Hales, executive director, as well as David Hoskins who joined the firm as co-founder and head of private credit.