Crescent Capital Group is a global

alternative investment An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as ...

firm focused on below investment grade credit markets with primary strategies that include funds that invest in leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, mezzanine debt, special situations, and

distressed securities Distressed securities are securities over companies or government entities that are experiencing financial or operational distress, default, or are under bankruptcy. As far as debt securities, this is called distressed debt. Purchasing or holding ...

. The firm has approximately $34-billion of assets under management and has made investments in over 190 companies since its inception as well as expanded into the European market with operations based in London. Since its founding in 1991, the firm has raised approximately $25 billion across seven funds. TCW/Crescent maintains a strategic partnership with

TCW Group TCW Group is an asset management firm based in Los Angeles, California. History Founded by Robert Addison Day in 1971 and headquartered in Los Angeles, TCW manages a broad range of investment products. The TCW Group was originally known as Trus ...

(Trust Company of the West), a leading institutional money management firm with approximately $180 billion in assets under management. In January 2021,

Sun Life Financial Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company. It is primarily known as a life insurance company. Sun Life has a presence in investment management with over CAD$1.3 trillion in assets under management operating in a number o ...

acquired a majority stake (51%) in the company. The firm is based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

History

In 1991, former

Drexel Burnham Lambert Drexel Burnham Lambert was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive Michael Milken. At its height, it was a ...

investment bankers

Mark Attanasio Mark L. Attanasio (born September 29, 1957) is an American businessman from The Bronx who is the principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. In September 2004, he reached a deal, on behalf of an investment group, to purchase the Brewers from the fam ...

, Robert D. Beyer and Jean-Marc Chapus founded Crescent Capital Corporation, a Dallas-based investment firm that invested in high yield bonds. After Drexel Burnham Lambert was forced into bankruptcy in February 1990 due to

Michael Milken Michael Robert Milken (born July 4, 1946) is an American financier. He is known for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds ("junk bonds"), and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony charges for vio ...

's involvement in the junk bond market, Attanasio and Chapus stayed behind to manage the bankruptcy estate. Drexel had $2 billion of high-yield securities, which gave them the largest distressed portfolio in the country at the time. Based on their successful experience with the Drexel estate, the founders organized Crescent Capital as an asset manager in 1991 to provide capital to middle-market companies and to manage distressed portfolios. Attanasio sold Crescent to the Trust Company of the West (later renamed TCW Group), an investment firm based in Los Angeles, in 1995. After the sale of Crescent, Attanasio remained a senior partner and chief investment officer of the firm's leveraged finance and mezzanine capital group. In 2001,

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English as SocGen (), is a French-based multinational financial services company founded in 1864, registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby in La Défense. Société Générale ...

(SocGen) acquired a controlling interest in the TCW Group. In 2005, TCW/Crescent merged with Canterbury Mezzanine Capital to provide the firm a stronger presence on the East Coast. Canterbury was founded as a spinout of

Barclays Capital Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

, founded by Nicholas Dunphy and Patrick Turner. In 2010, Crescent Capital Group spun off from TCW to re-establish itself as a stand-alone firm. The arrangement was described as "amicable" for TCW and Crescent. The working relationship of the two companies remains close; the two share management fees for existing clients. Following the separation, the firm was renamed Crescent Capital Group. In August 2020, the Canadian-based Sun Life Financial (SLF) began advanced talks to acquire the company. In January 2021, SLF acquired a majority stake (51%) in the company.

References

External links

Crescent Capital Group
(company website)
TCW/Crescent Mezzanine
(The Funded)
of up To $10 million Investment In TCW/Crescent. Mezzanine Partners IV
. Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System, 2006
Notification of up To $10 million Investment In TCW/Crescent. Mezzanine Partners V
. Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System, 2008
{{private equity firms 2021 mergers and acquisitions Financial services companies established in 1991 Private equity firms of the United States Drexel Burnham Lambert Mezzanine capital investment firms American companies established in 1991