Churchill Asset Management, an investment-specialist affiliate of Nuveen focused on middle market private debt and private equity solutions, and Dawson Partners, a global alternative asset manager focused on providing innovative structured solutions to the private markets, closed a $425 million transaction.
The transaction, solely financed by Dawson vehicles, served as an alternative solution to a traditional secondary sale, delivering liquidity to Churchill investors on a curated portfolio of 19 high-quality buyout fund interests. The structure provides Dawson vehicles with downside protection and upside participation, and Churchill investors with immediate liquidity and future upside potential. Further, the transaction secured strategic unfunded capital to support the growth of Churchill’s middle-market GP-led secondaries and equity co-investment platforms.
“Our focus is to always approach transactions with a partnership first mentality, and we seek to find the win-win in all that we do. Leveraging our scale, we were able to provide a large, customized solution that aligned with Churchill’s objectives, while also benefitting from a downside protected structure on a highly diversified portfolio of private equity with meaningful participation in any future upside,” Rob Gavin, partner at Dawson, said. “We’re excited to work with Churchill given their experience and the strength of their private capital platform. They are a trusted partner, and we value their differentiated access to the U.S. middle market.”
“This transaction achieves several objectives for our firm. It delivers material liquidity for our investors and supports the continued growth of Churchill’s secondaries platform and leading equity co-investment business,” Nick Lawler, managing director and head of secondaries at Churchill, said. “We thank the Dawson team for their partnership, structural creativity and ability to provide a comprehensive solution with speed and certainty.”
Evercore acted as the exclusive financial advisor on the transaction.
