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The global alternatives investment manager has acquired a private lender to ramp up its private credit business and corporate lending.
Australian-owned global alternatives investment management company Salter Brothers has acquired Causeway Asset Management Limited (Causeway), an Australian private credit fund manager with over $600 million in funds under management and advice, for an undisclosed sum.
The 22-year-old private lender provides direct lending solutions to small- to medium-sized enterprises and medium-sized corporates in Australia.
The Sydney-based lender has strong experience in managing corporate loan portfolios, exceeding $1.7 billion since inception.
The acquisition comes as Salter Brothers (which specialises in property, credit and equities) ramps up its presence in corporate credit.
Paul Salter, managing director at Salter Brothers, welcomed Causeway to the group, noting that its senior management team – including founding directors Tim Martin and Mike Davis– had strong expertise in credit, loan structuring, and analysis, as well as extensive experience in recovery, restructuring and workouts.
Salter said: “We are delighted to welcome Mike, Tim and the Causeway team to Salter Brothers. 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 Tim Martin said: “We have previously partnered with Salter Brothers on transactions, and these experiences have demonstrated to us that we share similar values and culture.
“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.”
Similarly, founding director Mike Davis said: “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 2000s.
“In order to scale our participation in the Australian lower mid-market corporate sector, which now totals in excess of $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”.
Salter Brothers has continued to grow its presence in lending over the past few years, with a particular focus on hospitality investments such as hotels, and now has group assets under management of over $4 billion.
Last year, a consortium led by the Salter Brothers Tech Fund acquired SME lender Prospa Group Limited (Prospa) to add to its specialist equity, credit, and property portfolio.
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