Cross Ocean Partners launches its first CLO post acquisition of the Bosphorus European CLO platform from Commerzbank

On 26 October 2022, Cross Ocean Partners (“Cross Ocean”), a leading global credit investment manager with $6.2 billion of AUM, 1 completed Bosphorus CLO VII (“CLO VII”), the seventh CLO from the Bosphorus team and the first under Cross Ocean’s management.

Cross Ocean acquired the Bosphorus European CLO platform, its three CLOs and five-person team from Commerzbank in December 2021. The transaction established Cross Ocean’s footprint in the European CLO market, further deepening Cross Ocean’s presence in the European credit space.

Concurrent to the acquisition of the platform, Cross Ocean closed on a €130 million risk retention fund, alongside a strategic investor, to help fund the issuance of future Cross Ocean CLOs and enable the business to grow successfully. Since the team, led by London-based Guy Beeston, joined Cross Ocean, it has hired two new members and been fully integrated into the wider Cross Ocean business.

Graham Goldsmith and Steve Zander, co-CIOs of Cross Ocean, commented: “We are very happy to have welcomed Guy and his team to Cross Ocean. The team’s ability to issue CLOs in the current market environment is a testament to their track record and experience. We are committed to building a best-in-class global credit manager and view the strategy as being highly complementary to our existing credit business.”

Guy Beeston, Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of European CLOs for Cross Ocean, commented: “This transaction marks an exciting new step for the team as we look to scale up our capacity to issue new CLOs at Cross Ocean. Leveraging our collective relationships and resources will help catalyse the CLO business and be accretive to Cross Ocean’s ability to deliver attractive risk adjusted returns for its investors and partners.”

Deutsche Bank acted as arranger for the transaction. Cross Ocean was advised on CLO VII by Milbank LLP and Arthur Cox. It was advised on the acquisition of the Bosphorus platform by Macfarlanes LLP.

1 Estimated as of 30 September 2022. AUM defined as Gross Asset Value by Cross Ocean which equates to "NAV before carried interest" for funds in their harvest periods and "NAV before carried interest plus undrawn investor commitments" for funds within their investment periods. Numbers are subject to rounding.