Investec Australia has reached an agreement to sell its local corporate and acquisition finance (CAF) loan portfolio to Metrics Credit Partners.
The acquisition would cement Metrics Credit Partners as the country’s leading non-bank corporate lender, with a portfolio exceeding $6.5 billion.
Milton Samios, Investec Australia chief executive and country head, said this development would ensure local corporates continued to be served by a highly-regarded local lender.
“It is a high-quality portfolio, which is a testament to the Investec approach to credit selection and risk management as well as to the Investec CAF team, led by Simon Beissel, which has built this business over the past 10 years,” Samios said.
Andrew Lockhart, Metrics’ managing partner, said the acquisition would deliver enhanced investment opportunities for Metrics’ clients.
“This is a great outcome for investors because it will add to the diversity and liquidity across our funds and lead to an uplift in expected total returns,” Lockhart said.
“The credit quality of this portfolio is sound and provides a great opportunity to expand our relationship with Australian corporate borrowers.”
The portfolio comprised leveraged finance and fund finance loans to corporates and funds across business services, entertainment, retail, childcare, healthcare, mining services and financial services in Australia.
Investec’s resource finance and project and infrastructure finance loan portfolios were not included in the sale process, which was run by the Investec corporate advisory team, which would shortly be spun out into a separate independent advisory boutique.
Investec, which had been in Australia for more than 23 years, was exiting the local market as part of its parent Investec Bank’s move to simplifying its business structure and focus on its principal market in the UK.
