Salter Brothers grows credit footprint via Causeway AM grab

Salter Brothers has expanded its private credit reach and expertise with the acquisition of the $600 million Sydney-based fund manager, Causeway Asset Management.

Causeway’s expertise lies in direct lending solutions for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and middle-size corporates in Australia, with its total corporate loan portfolio amounting to well over AUD$1.7 billion since the firm was founded in 2003.

The acquisition of Causeway is one of several transactions finalised by Salter Brothers in the last 12 months, with founding directors Mike Davis and Tim Martin, as well as the wider Causeway team, set to enter the Salter Brothers fold and bring with them deep experience and knowledge of credit, loan structuring, analysis, recovery, restructuring and workouts.

“We are delighted to welcome Mike, Tim and the Causeway team to Salter Brothers,” Paul Salter, Managing Director at Salter Brothers, said.

“We are impressed with their expertise, experience and reputation in the industry and believe they will complement our credit capabilities and will be instrumental in driving our private credit growth ambitions.”

Causeway Founding Director, Mike Davis, said the heightened appetite for private debt in recent years confirmed now was the right time to partner with the $4 billion firm.

“The increase in investor engagement within the private debt asset class over the past 5-8 years reminded us of the private equity sector’s journey since the early 2000’s,” he said.

“In order to scale our participation in the Australian lower mid-market corporate sector which now totals in excess of A$500 billion borrowing appetite, we felt it was timely to build on our foundation in private debt markets by teaming up with Salter Brothers who are also keen to grow their private credit business.”

“We have previously partnered with Salter Brothers on transactions, and these experiences have demonstrated to us that we share similar values and culture,” fellow Causeway Founding Director, Tim Martin, said.

“Importantly, we have a shared perspective on conservative underwriting practices and a laser focus on capital preservation across our portfolios, which means we are well-placed to provide a compelling, integrated offering to our wholesale and institutional investors in our targeted market sector.”

“The integration of Causeway’s extensive track-record and Salter Brothers’ global platform is garnering significant interest,” David O’Connor, Managing Director, Debt Capital Markets at Salter Brothers, said.

“We have already presented our combined capability to a number of our investment partners, who have expressed a desire to participate in this opportunity”.