Kohlberg Capital Corporation has completed the acquisition of Trimaran Advisors, L.L.C., along with equity interests in certain collateralized loan obligation (CLO) funds managed by Trimaran Advisors. The purchase price consisted of approximately $25 million in cash and 3,600,000 shares of Kohlberg Capital common stock.

Trimaran Advisors, founded in 1998, is a credit-based alternative asset manager that currently manages four CLO funds with aggregate assets under management of approximately $1.5 billion. Trimaran Advisors focuses primarily on below investment grade corporate debt, using primary credit research to identify attractive investment opportunities and monitor the credits in the investment portfolios.

“This is an important transaction for KCAP which significantly expands our existing asset management business. With this transaction completed, Katonah Debt Advisors and Trimaran Advisors will have over $3.4 billion of combined assets under management. Trimaran Advisors has an outstanding track record, and the combination is expected to result in significant synergies and will provide a platform to grow KCAP’s business. As part of this transaction, KCAP entered into a $30 million credit facility with Credit Suisse that will allow us to add a moderate amount of leverage to our balance sheet,” said Dayl Pearson, president and CEO of Kohlberg Capital.

“The new credit facility positions us to grow our direct lending business and we believe that the cost synergies to the operations of our asset management affiliates as well as the returns from the additional CLO securities will more than offset any potential dilution from the issuance of new shares in the transaction,” said Michael Wirth, CFO.

Following the closing, Jay Bloom and Dean Kehler, principals of Trimaran Advisors, will continue as employees of Trimaran Advisors and have joined KCAP’s board. Dominick Mazzitelli, the portfolio manager of the Trimaran Advisors CLO funds, will continue in that role, and will be assisted by additional Trimaran Advisors investment professionals expanding and enhancing the current KDA team.

Kohlberg Capital Corporation is a publicly traded, internally managed business development company. It middle-market investment business originates, structures, finances and manages a portfolio of term loans, mezzanine investments and selected equity securities in middle-market companies.