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  • Seller
  • Buyer
  • Type
  • Date Announced
  • Seller AUM
  • CypressTree Investment Management, LLC (Primus Guaranty, Ltd.)
  • Commercial Industrial Finance Corp.
  • Other
  • September 22, 2010
  • $2.8 Billion

Seller Details

Primus Guaranty, Ltd. is a Bermuda company with operations in New York, Boston and London. Through its subsidiaries, the company is a leading manager of corporate credit assets and provider of credit protection. Primus manages assets in structured credit funds and operating companies, across a range of asset classes - including investment grade, high yield and leveraged loans - using both cash and synthetic instruments.

Buyer Details

Commercial Industrial Finance Corp. (CIFC) is a top performing corporate credit asset management business, combining the best credit practices of banks and asset managers. CIFC is a proactive, fundamentals-based corporate credit manager with best-in-class processes and controls, high transparency to investors and a proprietary credit technology platform. CIFC is based in New York and is an SEC registered investment adviser.

Transaction Summary

Primus Guaranty, Ltd., today announced it has entered into a binding letter of intent to sell CypressTree Investment Management, LLC (CypressTree), its third-party asset management subsidiary, to Commercial Industrial Finance Corp. (CIFC). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

CypressTree manages or subadvises approximately $2.8 billion of high yield and leveraged loan assets in eight collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). These CLOs include: Primus CLO I and II, and Hewett's Island CLO I-R, II, III, IV, V and VI. The collateral management contracts for the eight CLOs will be included in the sale. A total rate of return swap and a collateralized swap obligation managed by CypressTree also will be included in the sale.

CIFC is a top-performing credit asset management business that manages $3.6 billion in assets across seven CLOs. The firm's team of 15 investment professionals averages 17 years of experience and is led by Peter Gleysteen, a pioneer of the U.S. corporate loan market.

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