Northleaf Capital Partners, a global private markets investment firm, completed the final close of Northleaf Asset-Based Specialty Finance (NASF), its inaugural low-correlation asset-based specialty finance fund. The strategy raised ~US$450 million in commitments to NASF and co-investment vehicles investing alongside the fund.
NASF builds on Northleaf’s established asset-based specialty finance investing platform, which has invested ~US$1.4 billion across 21 investments since 2018. Designed to provide diversification, high cash yield and low correlation to broader market and macroeconomic factors, the strategy targets specialized asset verticals, including entertainment royalties, legal assets, healthcare receivables and factoring.
“As markets have become more volatile, we’ve seen investors place a greater emphasis on resilience and diversification within their private credit portfolios,” David Ross, managing director and head of private credit at Northleaf, said. “Asset-based specialty finance offers a complementary set of return drivers compared to many traditional credit strategies, combining attractive cash yield with low-correlation assets and strong downside protections. This strategy reflects years of building the relationships, underwriting expertise and origination capabilities that are critical to investing in this market.”
To support the continued growth of the strategy, Northleaf recently appointed JD Gettmann as managing director and global head of asset-based specialty finance. Gettmann joins Northleaf from MidCap Financial, where he co-founded and led the firm’s lender finance business. He brings more than two decades of experience building and scaling asset-based finance platforms and has deployed more than US$15 billion of capital across commercial and consumer asset classes.
“Northleaf has built a differentiated asset-based specialty finance platform, supported by a strong track record, disciplined underwriting and deep origination relationships,” Gettmann said. “I’m excited to build on that foundation, work alongside the existing team and expand the platform strategically by deepening our origination capabilities, broadening our investment solutions and continuing to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns and meaningful diversification for Northleaf’s investors.”
Since entering the asset-based specialty finance market in 2018, Northleaf has built deep expertise across its target asset verticals and established relationships that originate proprietary investment opportunities. Acting as lead or sole lender on approximately 90% of its investments since inception has enabled Northleaf to negotiate attractive pricing, structure, and terms while maintaining a disciplined underwriting approach.
The strategy is managed by Northleaf’s asset-based specialty finance investment team and leverages the firm’s global private markets platform, investing across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia.
