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Blackstone Announces Final Close for Fourth Capital Opportunities Fund

Blackstone

NEW YORK – January 12, 2022 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced the final close of Blackstone Capital Opportunities Fund IV (“COF IV”). With the final close of COF IV, Blackstone Credit has $8.75 billion available for its opportunistic private debt strategy. COF has an almost 15-year track record of providing private financings for businesses of all sizes and across industries.

Louis Salvatore, Co-Portfolio Manager of the Capital Opportunities Funds, said: “We are pleased to have closed our fourth COF fund and are very appreciative of the strong support from our Limited Partners. We believe our track record, scale and structuring expertise position us as a valuable partner to private equity sponsors and large cap companies.”

Rob Petrini, Co-Portfolio Manager of the Capital Opportunities Funds, added: “Our latest fund is off to a terrific start, leveraging our strong sourcing engine and broad mandate to invest in a diverse set of industries, geographies and structures. We are driving the secular trend of large companies increasingly accessing private capital through our scale and also capitalizing on Blackstone’s thematic approach to investing.”

COF IV has already made 12 investments and commitments with a focus on high growth industries, such as technology and healthcare.

Blackstone Credit is one of the world’s largest credit-focused asset managers. Blackstone’s Credit and Insurance segment has $188 billion of AUM as of the third quarter of 2021.

About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative investment firm. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $731 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

Contact
Kate Holderness
Kate.holderness@blackstone.com
646-482-8774

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Marcone Announces Acquisition of Munch’s Supply

Combination Positions Marcone as an Integrated Hub for Residential Parts and Services

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/—Marcone, a leading distributor of home appliance, HVAC, and plumbing repair parts and equipment across North America and current portfolio company of Genstar Capital, today announced that it has acquired Munch’s Supply (“Munch’s”), a leading distributor of HVAC equipment, parts and supplies from Ridgemont Equity Partners. The acquisition immediately establishes Marcone as a leader in the HVAC sector and, combined with its recent acquisition of plumbing distributor Professional Plumbing Group (“PPG”), dramatically expands its services to the home. Ridgemont and the Munch’s management team will retain a meaningful minority stake in the combined entity.

Founded in 1956, Munch’s Supply is a leading supplier of HVAC and plumbing replacement parts and equipment. Headquartered in Hillside, IL, Munch’s sells approximately 135,00 SKUs across 65 facilities with a workforce of approximately 1,100 employees. With the addition of Munch’s, Marcone now operates in three large, growing markets within the home (appliances, HVAC and plumbing) servicing millions of homes, 43,000 technicians and larger strategic customers such as property managers, retailers, home warranty and ecommerce providers with tens of millions of parts sold annually across its 113 locations throughout the United States and Canada. Marcone also offers a growing suite of services and technology to its customers including training, payroll, insurance, inventory management and field service management.

Jim Souers, Chief Executive Officer of Marcone, stated, “Munch’s has built a strategic partnership with the preeminent industry OEMs, offering the highest quality and most trusted brands in the market. Customers value their partnership with Munch’s, and we hope to build on the relationships they have established to offer additional products and services. As we further build Marcone as a partner serving the appliance, HVAC and plumbing sectors, I look forward to working with Bob Munch and his team to leverage the core tenets of Munch’s philosophy including its reputation as an M&A acquiror of choice in the HVAC sector.”

Bob Munch, Chief Executive of Munch’s, said, “We have built Munch’s over the decades into a one-stop-shop that ensures our customers have a consistent and trusted partner to access the industry’s most iconic brands, enabling them to perform critical installation, repair and service work with minimal downtime. Our growing eCommerce presence will also provide best-in-class technology capabilities and deliver seamless integration with our suppliers and customers. Munch’s local approach to serving the needs of suppliers, customers, and employees is a strong cultural fit with Marcone, and we look forward to becoming part of their family and building Marcone’s HVAC service capabilities to broader geographies.”

Rob Rutledge, Managing Director at Genstar Capital, said, “Munch’s is a terrific business that fits squarely into Jim’s thesis of being the hub for parts and services to the home. We are excited to partner with Bob, Ridgemont and the Munch’s team to accelerate the growth of the platform, including through organic initiatives to better serve our combined customer base and continued M&A opportunities in the sizable HVAC and plumbing markets.”

Jack Purcell, Managing Partner at Ridgemont, added, “Alongside Bob and his team, we expanded the Munch’s platform into several new states, entered the Canadian market and significantly diversified the company’s product offering. Even years before our investment in Munch’s Supply, we admired the company’s legacy as a trusted partner to suppliers and customers at the local level, and we are very pleased to join forces with Genstar and Marcone, an industry leader in the appliance market with a great reputation as a solutions-oriented provider.”

Baird and Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisors to Munch’s. BMO Capital Markets served as financial advisor to Genstar and Marcone. Alston & Bird served as legal counsel to Munch’s. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as legal counsel to Genstar and Marcone.

About Marcone

Marcone is an authorized distributor for major brands such as Whirlpool, Electrolux, General Electric, Maytag, Bosch, Samsung, L-G and many more. Through its vast distribution network, Marcone supplies the largest inventory of original replacement parts in the country for household appliances such as refrigerators, ranges, dishwashers, microwaves, washers, and dryers.  Marcone exports globally and also operates a comprehensive training institute offering quality business and technical training. Headquartered in St. Louis, Marcone operates 113 facilities, has approximately 2,000 employees, and serves approximately 43,000 technician customers. For more information, visit www.marcone.com.

About Munch’s Supply

Munch’s Supply was founded in 1956 by Willard Munch, who wanted to develop a local source of electrical supplies for area contractors. Today, the Company has more than 1,000 employees focused on supplying heating, cooling and plumbing industry contractors with quality products and exceptional service. Proudly celebrating its 65th year in business in 2021, Munch’s Supply operates with a commitment to service as a leading distributor for trusted brands such as American Standard, Trane, Mitsubishi, Rheem, IPEX, AO Smith, Kohler, Tempstar, Keeprite and Frigidaire. Through Munch’s Holdings, LLC, it operates Munch’s Supply, Tommark, O’Connor Company, Comfort Air Distributing, C&L Supply HVAC and Plumbing, API of NH and Delta T, Marks Supply and TML Supply which continue to serve as the premier sources for HVAC and plumbing equipment and supplies to contractors throughout North America. www.munchsupply.com.

About Genstar Capital

Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for over 30 years.  Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar currently has approximately $33 billion of assets under management and targets investments focused on targeted segments of the financial services, industrials, healthcare, and software industries.

About Ridgemont Equity Partners

Ridgemont Equity Partners is a Charlotte-based middle market buyout and growth equity investor. Since 1993, the principals of Ridgemont have invested over $5.5 billion. The firm focuses on equity investments up to $250 million and utilizes a proven, industry-focused investment approach and repeatable value creation strategies. www.ridgemontep.com

Contact: Chris Tofalli
Chris Tofalli Public Relations                                                                        
914-834-4334

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An EGF loan of EUR 100 million to Outokumpu

Finnvera
Finnvera has granted Outokumpu plc a loan of EUR 100 million with European Investment Bank’s (EIB) EGF guarantee.
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Finnvera has granted Outokumpu plc a loan of EUR 100 million with European Investment Bank’s (EIB) EGF guarantee.

Finnvera joined EIB’s Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF) programme in April 2021. The programme enables Finnvera to grant a total of EUR 650 million of working capital and investment loans, mainly for the financing needs of large enterprises. This funding will have a 75% EIB guarantee.

The program will continue until the end of June 2022.

The Guarantee Fund is intended for large and medium-sized enterprises which exceed the limits of the EU’s SME definition by having a staff headcount of 250 or more, an annual turnover of over EUR 50 million, and a balance sheet total in excess of EUR 43 million.

The loans under the guarantee programme will be provided directly by Finnvera. An individual loan amount may not exceed EUR 100 million, and the credit period is at maximum six years. The more detailed terms and conditions of the financing will be agreed upon individually for each project. In principle, the same terms and conditions will apply as to the company’s other financing.

Read also: Possibility to grant loans to large companies under the Pan-European Guarantee Fund will continue until the end of June 2022

Finnvera credit under EGF guarantee
Borrower: Outokumpu plc
Credit amount: EUR 100 million working capital limit
Credit period: 4 years
Agreement entered: December 2021
Date of publish: 11 January 2022

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CAIS Announces $225 Million Financing Round Led by Apollo and Motive Partners, Exceeds $1 Billion Valuation

Motive Partners

New Capital, Including Investment from Franklin Templeton,
to Accelerate the Digitization of Alternative Investments
Access, Education, and Execution
Executives of Apollo and Motive Partners Join Fintech
Pioneer CAIS Board of Directors
New York, NY – January 11, 2022 – CAIS, the leading alternative investment platform,
today announced a $225 million round of funding led by Apollo (NYSE: APO) and Motive
Partners (“Motive”), with additional investment from Franklin Templeton (NYSE: BEN),
which values CAIS at more than $1 billion. This new investment follows a $50 million
investment by Eldridge and accelerates CAIS’s mission to modernize how financial advisors
access alternative investments. Blythe Masters, Founding Partner of Motive, and Andrew
Gosden, Managing Director in Financial Services & Strategy at Apollo, will join CAIS’s board
of directors.

Alternative assets are expected to make up to 24% of the global investable market by 2025,
according to the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, up from 12% in
2018. CAIS has doubled its headcount in the last year to meet demand, as transaction
volume has increased by 65 percent year-over-year with the number of platform users
increasing by 60 percent. Building on that momentum, CAIS will use the proceeds of this
financing round to fuel further advancements in technology, enhance the customer
experience, invest in the digitization of product operations and processes, and explore
strategic opportunities.

“We are honored to have Apollo, Motive, and Franklin Templeton as our new
shareholders and partners,” said Matt Brown, Founder and CEO of CAIS.
“This investment advances the critical role CAIS plays in revolutionizing how the
alternative investment and wealth management communities engage, learn, and
transact.”

CAIS serves the independent wealth management community, which has been historically
under-allocated to alternatives when compared with large national broker-dealers or
institutional investors, whether due to complexity, higher minimums, and fees, need for
education, or other barriers to entry. As the first truly open marketplace for alternative
investments, where financial advisors and asset managers can engage and transact at scale,
CAIS seeks to remove these barriers, enabling advisors to enhance outcomes for their
investors and providing managers with centralized access to a highly fragmented wealth
management community.
Financial Technology Partners served as financial advisor to CAIS on the transaction.

About CAIS
CAIS is the leading alternative investment platform for financial advisors who seek improved
access to, and education about, alternative investment funds and products. CAIS provides
financial advisors with a broad selection of alternative investment strategies, including
hedge funds, private equity, private credit, real estate, digital assets, and structured notes,
allowing them to capitalize on opportunities and/or withstand ever-changing markets. CAIS
also provides an industry-leading learning system, CAIS IQ, to help advisors learn faster,
remember longer, and improve client outcomes.

All funds listed on CAIS undergo Mercer’s independent due diligence and ongoing
monitoring. Mercer diligence reports and fund ratings are available to advisors on the CAIS
password-protected platform. CAIS streamlines the end-to-end transaction process through
digital subscriptions and integrated reporting with Fidelity, Schwab, and Pershing, which
make investing in alternatives simple.

“We are excited to invest in CAIS, one of the fintech leaders transforming
alternative investment access for wealth management. At Apollo, we want more
individuals to access alternative strategies and companies like CAIS help to bridge
the gap between asset managers and advisors through their growing platform. We
believe this latest funding round will support the Company’s continued growth and
success,” said Marc Rowan, Co-Founder and CEO of Apollo.
“CAIS has built a unique marketplace for alternatives through a commitment to
excellent service and education. This investment will turbo-charge the technology
transformation of the business towards a modular, flexible cloud-based
architecture, which will modernize the way investors gain access to this asset class,
allowing managers, investors, and their advisors to focus less on process and more
on value-added interactions,” said Blythe Masters, Founding Partner at Motive.
“We believe that individual investors should have access to the same alternative
investment solutions as large institutions, and CAIS is doing just that through its
innovative and user-friendly platform,” said Jenny Johnson, President and CEO
of Franklin Templeton. “CAIS shares our goal of making it easier for advisors and
individual investors to diversify into alternatives to meet their investment
objectives.”

Founded in 2009, CAIS, a fintech leader, is empowering over 4,400+ unique advisor
firms/teams who oversee more than $2T+ in network assets. Since inception, CAIS has
facilitated over $13.8B+ in transaction volume as the first truly open marketplace where
financial advisors and asset managers engage and transact directly on a massive scale. CAIS
has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco.
Securities offered through CAIS Capital LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.

About Apollo
Apollo is a global, high-growth alternative asset manager. In our asset management
business, we seek to provide our clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward
spectrum from investment grade to private equity with a focus on three business strategies:
yield, hybrid, and equity. For more than three decades, our investing expertise across our
fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of our clients and provided
businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. Through Athene, our retirement
services business, we specialize in helping clients achieve financial security by providing a
suite of retirement savings products and acting as a solutions provider to institutions. Our
patient, creative, and knowledgeable approach to investing aligns our clients, businesses
we invest in, our employees, and the communities we impact, to expand opportunity and
achieve positive outcomes. As of September 30, 2021, Apollo had approximately $481
billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com.
About Motive Partners
Motive Partners is a specialist private equity firm with offices in New York City and London,
focusing on growth equity and buyout investments in software and information services
companies based in North America and Europe and serving five primary subsectors:
Banking & Payments, Capital Markets, Data & Analytics, Investment Management and
Insurance. Motive Partners brings differentiated expertise, connectivity and capabilities to
create long-term value in financial technology companies. More information on Motive
Partners can be found at www.motivepartners.com.

About Franklin Templeton
Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization with
subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 165 countries.
Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment
management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its
specialist investment managers, the Company brings extensive capabilities in equity, fixed
income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and
approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has over 70
years of investment experience and over $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of
November 30, 2021. For more information, please visit franklinresources.com.

For more information please contact:
FOR CAIS
Nadia Damouni
Pro-CAISPR@Prosek.com
FOR APOLLO
Joanna Rose, Global Head of Corporate Communications
Communications@apollo.com
Noah Gunn, Global Head of Investor Relations
IR@apollo.com

FOR MOTIVE PARTNERS
Sam Tidswell-Norrish
Investor Relations
sam@motivepartners.com

FOR FRANKLIN TEMPLETON
Matthew Walsh
matthew.walsh@franklintempleton.com

Categories: News

KREST Purchases Industrial Distribution Properties in Charleston and Chicago

KKR

January 11, 2022

Acquires over 1.9 million square feet of modern warehouse assets in key U.S. logistics markets

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced that KKR Real Estate Select Trust Inc. (“KREST” or the “Fund”) has completed the purchases of two state-of-the-art industrial distribution properties, growing the Fund’s logistics real estate portfolio to approximately six million square feet (SF) across the United States and South Korea.

The latest additions to KREST’s portfolio include a newly constructed, one million SF, cross-dock industrial warehouse located in Charleston and a three-building, 2020-vintage industrial park totaling approximately 923,000 SF in Chicago.

“High-quality logistics properties continue to be a key conviction for KREST as part of our strategic focus on investing in thematically driven, income-oriented real estate,” said Roger Morales, KKR Partner and Head of Real Estate Acquisitions in the Americas. “KKR’s experience, having acquired approximately 50 million SF of industrial property across the United States over the past few years, enables us to be front-footed in purchasing attractive properties directly from the developers.”

“We are pleased to complete the purchases of these marquee assets in Chicago and Charleston – two key logistics markets where we have significant experience,” said Ben Brudney, a Director in the Real Estate group at KKR who oversees the firm’s industrial investments in the United States. “We believe that state-of-the-art distribution centers in close proximity to major population centers and key transportation hubs will have significant staying power and are a great match for KREST’s long-term capital.”

The Charleston asset is located within the Charleston Trade Center, a Class A industrial campus in Summerville, South Carolina. The property features state-of-the-art physical characteristics and has direct interstate access to The Port of Charleston, the deepest port on the East Coast. Delivered in December 2021, the warehouse is 100 percent leased on a long-term basis. KREST acquired the property from the developer, a joint venture between The Keith Corporation and Singerman Real Estate. JLL represented the seller on the transaction.

The Chicago industrial park was completed in 2020 and is located in Bolingbrook, Illinois, approximately 30 miles from Chicago’s Central Business District and 25 miles from Midway International Airport. The property includes three Class A buildings: a cross-dock warehouse, a rear-load warehouse and a truck terminal. The property is 100 percent leased on a long-term basis to four established tenants. KREST acquired the property from the developer, Crow Holdings Industrial. The seller was represented by CBRE.

About KREST

KKR Real Estate Select Trust Inc. (“KREST”) is a continuously offered, registered closed-end fund that thematically invests in high quality, stabilized, income-oriented commercial real estate equity and debt. The fund is open to all investors with daily subscriptions and its primary investment objective is to provide attractive current income, with a secondary objective of long-term capital appreciation. KREST is managed by KKR Registered Advisor LLC, an affiliate of KKR & Co. Inc., and utilizes the experience and reach of KKR’s global real estate team and the resources available through the KKR platform. For additional information about KREST, please visit its website at www.krest.reit.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

For KKR:
Miles Radcliffe-Trenner
+1 212-750-8300
media@kkr.com

Source: KKR

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Record-breaking fundraising of €486 million for Qonto, to further accelerate European growth and become the finance solution for 1 million SMEs and freelancers by 2025

KKR

January 11, 2022

Paris, January 11 2022 – Qonto, the leading European business finance solution, announced today it has raised €486 million in Series D funding, bringing Qonto’s valuation to €4.4 billion. With this fundraising – one of the largest ever in French history – Qonto sets a new record valuation for a French scale-up. This latest round is jointly led by new investors Tiger Global and TCV, in addition to eight other new contributors: Alkeon, Eurazeo, KKR, Insight Partners, Exor Seeds, Guillaume Pousaz, Gaingels and Ashley Flucas. They will join current investors Valar, Alven, DST Global and Tencent who are all renewing their support by participating in this new funding round.
Since its launch in France in 2017, Qonto has been committed to building the first all-in-one finance solution for SMEs and freelancers. Qonto simplifies everything from everyday banking and financing to bookkeeping and spend management, allowing its customers to focus on what truly matters. The company currently has more than 220,000 clients across four markets (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). With this new funding round, Qonto’s ambition is to become the finance solution of choice for 1 million European SMEs and freelancers by 2025.
To support its high-level goals, Qonto will:
● Continue expanding its product offer through in-house development, new strategic partnerships and potential acquisitions to ensure it offers its clients the best product available on the market;
● Further grow its market penetration across Germany, Italy and Spain and new markets. In 2021, the company opened local offices in Barcelona, Berlin and Milan to fully tailor its offer to each market and lay down roots in those local ecosystems to foster closer partnership. Qonto is expanding particularly rapidly across these markets: the company has quadrupled its revenue over the past two years. Qonto will further accelerate its strong momentum across Europe by investing over €100 million in each market (Germany, Italy and Spain) over the next two years. Qonto also plans to reinforce its European leadership by launching in new markets by 2023. In 2025, it is expected that 75% of new clients will come from outside France.
● Recruit new talent and quadruple its team to more than 2,000 by 2025, 50% of new hires to be based outside of France. In part, this will be achieved thanks to the creation of a new Customer Support Operations Hub, to be based in Barcelona and designed to maintain its outstanding customer support while further scaling. To reinforce its international recruitment strategy and meet the expectations of an increasingly agile and mobile talent pool, the company will also launch a European “Qonto Campus” program to enable international mobility between the local offices.
Alexandre Prot, co-founder and CEO of Qonto: “Since our launch in 2017, we’ve constantly strived to create the finance solution that energizes SMEs and freelancers, empowering them to achieve more. This new Series D funding round is an amazing opportunity for us to accelerate our hyper-growth trajectory by investing in our product, our customer service and our power to attract new talents. This funding round reveals the incredible dynamism of the French and European Tech ecosystem. We count on policymakers
to continue their efforts to ensure entrepreneurship can succeed, leading to European and global champions that deliver innovation. This is only the beginning of our journey to best serve SMEs and freelancers and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds for us and our ambitions. The Qonto team is honored to welcome the most prestigious international investors to support our mission to become the leading business finance solution.”
John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global: “Qonto has revolutionized business finance for SMEs and freelancers by marrying simplicity with a unique all-in-one service. The company has seen a significant increase in clients across its European markets during the coronavirus pandemic. This also shows that customers’ needs are evolving during these unprecedented times. We have tracked Qonto’s incredible growth for some time and are delighted to partner with the entire Qonto team and support their mission to serve a rapidly growing European market.”
“We at TCV love to back visionary founders and could not be more excited to partner with Alexander, Steve and the rest of the Qonto team, said John Doran, General Partner at TCV. “We look forward to supporting them as they continue to bring best-in-class banking and finance solutions to millions of SMEs and freelancers across Europe.”

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Record-breaking fundraising of €486 million for Qonto, to further accelerate European growth and become the finance solution for 1 million SMEs and freelancers by 2025

KKR

January 11, 2022

Paris, January 11 2022 – Qonto, the leading European business finance solution, announced today it has raised €486 million in Series D funding, bringing Qonto’s valuation to €4.4 billion. With this fundraising – one of the largest ever in French history – Qonto sets a new record valuation for a French scale-up. This latest round is jointly led by new investors Tiger Global and TCV, in addition to eight other new contributors: Alkeon, Eurazeo, KKR, Insight Partners, Exor Seeds, Guillaume Pousaz, Gaingels and Ashley Flucas. They will join current investors Valar, Alven, DST Global and Tencent who are all renewing their support by participating in this new funding round.
Since its launch in France in 2017, Qonto has been committed to building the first all-in-one finance solution for SMEs and freelancers. Qonto simplifies everything from everyday banking and financing to bookkeeping and spend management, allowing its customers to focus on what truly matters. The company currently has more than 220,000 clients across four markets (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). With this new funding round, Qonto’s ambition is to become the finance solution of choice for 1 million European SMEs and freelancers by 2025.
To support its high-level goals, Qonto will:
● Continue expanding its product offer through in-house development, new strategic partnerships and potential acquisitions to ensure it offers its clients the best product available on the market;
● Further grow its market penetration across Germany, Italy and Spain and new markets. In 2021, the company opened local offices in Barcelona, Berlin and Milan to fully tailor its offer to each market and lay down roots in those local ecosystems to foster closer partnership. Qonto is expanding particularly rapidly across these markets: the company has quadrupled its revenue over the past two years. Qonto will further accelerate its strong momentum across Europe by investing over €100 million in each market (Germany, Italy and Spain) over the next two years. Qonto also plans to reinforce its European leadership by launching in new markets by 2023. In 2025, it is expected that 75% of new clients will come from outside France.
● Recruit new talent and quadruple its team to more than 2,000 by 2025, 50% of new hires to be based outside of France. In part, this will be achieved thanks to the creation of a new Customer Support Operations Hub, to be based in Barcelona and designed to maintain its outstanding customer support while further scaling. To reinforce its international recruitment strategy and meet the expectations of an increasingly agile and mobile talent pool, the company will also launch a European “Qonto Campus” program to enable international mobility between the local offices.
Alexandre Prot, co-founder and CEO of Qonto: “Since our launch in 2017, we’ve constantly strived to create the finance solution that energizes SMEs and freelancers, empowering them to achieve more. This new Series D funding round is an amazing opportunity for us to accelerate our hyper-growth trajectory by investing in our product, our customer service and our power to attract new talents. This funding round reveals the incredible dynamism of the French and European Tech ecosystem. We count on policymakers
to continue their efforts to ensure entrepreneurship can succeed, leading to European and global champions that deliver innovation. This is only the beginning of our journey to best serve SMEs and freelancers and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds for us and our ambitions. The Qonto team is honored to welcome the most prestigious international investors to support our mission to become the leading business finance solution.”
John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global: “Qonto has revolutionized business finance for SMEs and freelancers by marrying simplicity with a unique all-in-one service. The company has seen a significant increase in clients across its European markets during the coronavirus pandemic. This also shows that customers’ needs are evolving during these unprecedented times. We have tracked Qonto’s incredible growth for some time and are delighted to partner with the entire Qonto team and support their mission to serve a rapidly growing European market.”
“We at TCV love to back visionary founders and could not be more excited to partner with Alexander, Steve and the rest of the Qonto team, said John Doran, General Partner at TCV. “We look forward to supporting them as they continue to bring best-in-class banking and finance solutions to millions of SMEs and freelancers across Europe.”

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Faraway Road Productions Acquired by Candle Media, Next-generation Media Company Backed by Kevin Mayer, Tom Staggs, and Blackstone

Blackstone

LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK, & TEL AVIV – Candle Media (“Candle”), the next-generation media company run by leading entertainment executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs and backed by investment capital from Blackstone, today announced it has acquired Faraway Road Productions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded by Lior Raz & Avi Issacharoff, the creators of FAUDA and Hit & Run, Faraway Road Productions is a global media and entertainment company delivering high-impact, original stories to audiences around the world. Season Four of FAUDA is set to premiere later this year on Israel’s YES TV and streaming worldwide on Netflix. Other current development projects include the film Siege of Bethlehem – to be directed by Antoine Fuqua – and a non-scripted spy thriller for Showtime with director Greg Barker.

Kevin Mayer & Tom Staggs, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of Candle, said: “Lior and Avi are world-class storytellers who produce exhilarating content that strikes a chord globally with audiences across cultures and languages. They are exactly the type of partners we and Blackstone are looking to invest behind – and we are excited to work with them to further accelerate Faraway Road’s growth trajectory.”

Joe Baratta, Global Head of Private Equity at Blackstone, and David Kestnbaum, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “We are proud to back Lior and Avi, who stand for the highest standards of quality in international media and entertainment. Content creation is one of our highest-conviction investment themes, and we believe that elite talent like the Faraway Road team is exceptionally well positioned to thrive in today’s increasingly global, digital media environment.”

Lior Raz & Avi Issacharoff Co-CEO’s of Faraway Road Productions said: “Faraway was founded to bring authentic and engaging international stories to global audiences.  Partnering with Kevin, Tom, Blackstone and the unbelievable creators that are part of the Candle family will allow us to significantly accelerate that, while participating in creating the next-generation media company that puts creators first.”

About Candle Media
Candle is an independent, creator-friendly home for cutting-edge, high-quality, category-defining brands and franchises that is built for the digital age. By bringing together elite talent operating at the intersection of content, community, and commerce, it helps position leading entertainment businesses for accelerated, sustainable growth in the current market and beyond. The company has acquired Hello Sunshine, the mission-driven media company that puts women at the center of every story it creates, founded by Reese Witherspoon; and Moonbug Entertainment Ltd., the digital-first, global children’s entertainment company behind highly popular shows such as CoComelon, Blippi, Little Baby Bum; as well as made a strategic minority investment in Westbrook Inc., the media company founded by Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Miguel Melendez and Ko Yada, focused on empowering artists to tell stories that connect the world. Candle is run by its Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs, leading entertainment executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, and backed by investment capital from funds managed by Blackstone’s flagship private equity business.

About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $731 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

About Faraway Road Productions
Founded and led by award-winning creator, writer and actor Lior Raz and creator, writer and award-winning journalist Avi Issacharoff, Faraway Road is a global media entertainment company developing and producing bold, high-impact and engaging original content. In addition to creating original material, the duo and their team are trusted with bringing to screen many deeply personal experiences from authentic voices around the world. They give a platform to these voices and adapt them into sophisticated, character-driven stories that wouldn’t be told otherwise. Faraway Road oversees each of their projects from conception to production and release, developing film and television series for the US, Israeli and international markets.

Faraway Road is best known for creating and producing the critically acclaimed series FAUDA, a political thriller in which Raz also stars, based on his and Issacharoff’s time serving in the Israeli Defense Force’s special forces unit. The series is one of the biggest successes in Israeli television, with all three seasons available for streaming on Netflix and the fourth season in production. Also, airing on Netflix is the action thriller series HIT & RUN starring Raz and Sanaa Lathan, which Issacharoff and Raz co-created with the award-winning team behind THE KILLING. Upcoming for Faraway Road is a robust slate of film and television projects in various stages of development.

Media Contact

Blackstone
Matt Anderson
518-248-7310
Matthew.Anderson@Blackstone.com

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Apollo Debt Solutions BDC Launches with More Than $1 Billion in Assets Under Management

Continuously Offered BDC Breaks Escrow with Approx. $657 Million of Equity

Apollo Global Wealth Expands its Alternative Solutions for Individual Investors

NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Apollo Debt Solutions BDC (“ADS” or the “Fund”) today announced that it has launched with more than $1 billion in assets under management. On Friday, January 7, the Fund broke escrow with approximately $657 million in equity net proceeds for its continuous public offering (the “Offering”). In connection with breaking escrow, the Fund issued and sold 26,258,912 shares of beneficial interest in the Offering. The Fund intends to continue selling shares in the Offering on a monthly basis.

The Fund invests primarily in directly originated assets, including debt securities, and in particular focuses on large-cap origination. The Fund is managed by an affiliate of Apollo (NYSE: APO), which has one of the world’s largest alternative credit businesses with approximately $341 billion in credit AUM.

Apollo Partner Earl Hunt, Chair and CEO of ADS, said, “We are pleased to break escrow and begin actively investing the Fund, leveraging our extensive experience across private credit, direct origination and our status as a preferred lending partner to thousands of companies and sponsors. We look forward to working with our distribution partners to continue growing ADS.”

Apollo’s Chief Client and Product Development Officer Stephanie Drescher added, “Individual investors have long been under-allocated to alternatives, and we believe this strong initial fundraise for ADS demonstrates the pent-up demand investors and their wealth advisors have for strategies of this kind. We’re excited for a growing set of investors and advisors to access Apollo’s asset management expertise through ADS and other current and prospective offerings.”

Apollo’s Global Wealth business is one of the Firm’s key strategic growth areas. The unit, focused on development and distribution of products for individual investors, has made significant new hires since its launch last year and, in December 2021, Apollo agreed to buy the wealth distribution and asset management businesses of Griffin Capital. Recently, Apollo also made venture equity investments in CAIS and iCapital, two of the leading technology platforms helping wealth and financial advisors access alternative strategies.

ADS is the first non-traded business development company sponsored by affiliates of Apollo and adds to a growing suite of solutions from the Firm that qualifying investors can access through their financial advisors. To learn more about the Fund and see important disclosures, please visit: https://gwms.apollo.com/debtsolutionsbdc.

About Apollo Debt Solutions BDC
Apollo Debt Solutions BDC (the “Fund”) is a regulated, non-listed BDC that provides individual investors access to investments targeted by the largest institutions. We believe it provides investors with a stronger and more diversified path to value than is typically available — and aims to offer a more beneficial risk-adjusted profile than public equivalents. The Fund focuses on senior secured large corporate direct origination, broadly syndicated loans, and, to a lesser extent, middle market direct lending. Together, we believe these attributes help position our BDC to perform.

About Apollo
Apollo is a global, high-growth alternative asset manager. In our asset management business, we seek to provide our clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade to private equity with a focus on three business strategies: yield, hybrid, and equity. For more than three decades, our investing expertise across our fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of our clients and provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. Through Athene, our retirement services business, we specialize in helping clients achieve financial security by providing a suite of retirement savings products and acting as a solutions provider to institutions. Our patient, creative, and knowledgeable approach to investing aligns our clients, businesses we invest in, our employees, and the communities we impact, to expand opportunity and achieve positive outcomes. As of September 30, 2021, Apollo had approximately $481 billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information contained in this communication constitutes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as “outlook,” “indicator,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “can,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates”, “confident,” “conviction,” “identified” or the negative versions of these words or other comparable words thereof. These may include financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements about plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, statements regarding future performance, statements regarding economic and market trends and statements regarding identified but not yet closed investments. Such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and there are or may be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in such statements. ADS believes these factors also include but are not limited to those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in its prospectus, and any such updated factors included in its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this document (or ADS’s prospectus and other filings). Except as otherwise required by federal securities laws, ADS undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Apollo Contact Information

For Investors:
Noah Gunn
Global Head of Investor Relations
(212) 822-0540
IR@apollo.com

For Media:
Joanna Rose
Global Head of Corporate Communications
(212) 822-0491
Communications@apollo.com

 


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Source: Apollo Global Management, Inc.

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CAIS Announces $225 Million Financing Round Led by Apollo and Motive Partners, Exceeds $1 Billion Valuation

New Capital, Including Investment from Franklin Templeton, to Accelerate the Digitization of Alternative Investments Access, Education, and Execution

Executives of Apollo and Motive Partners Join Fintech Pioneer CAIS Board of Directors

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– CAIS, the leading alternative investment platform, today announced a $225 million round of funding led by Apollo (NYSE: APO) and Motive Partners (“Motive”), with additional investment from Franklin Templeton (NYSE: BEN), which values CAIS at more than $1 billion. This new investment follows a previous investment by Eldridge and accelerates CAIS’s mission to modernize how financial advisors access alternative investments. Blythe Masters, Founding Partner of Motive, and Andrew Gosden, Managing Director in Financial Services & Strategy at Apollo, will join CAIS’s board of directors.

“We are honored to have Apollo, Motive, and Franklin Templeton as our new shareholders and partners,” said Matt Brown, Founder and CEO of CAIS. “This investment advances the critical role CAIS plays in revolutionizing how the alternative investment and wealth management communities engage, learn, and transact.”

Alternative assets are expected to make up to 24% of the global investable market by 2025, according to the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, up from 12% in 2018. CAIS has doubled its headcount in the last year to meet demand, as transaction volume has increased by 65 percent year-over-year with the number of platform users increasing by 60 percent. Building on that momentum, CAIS will use the proceeds of this financing round to fuel further advancements in technology, enhance the customer experience, invest in the digitization of product operations and processes, and explore strategic opportunities.

“We are excited to invest in CAIS, one of the fintech leaders transforming alternative investment access for wealth management. At Apollo, we want more individuals to access alternative strategies and companies like CAIS help to bridge the gap between asset managers and advisors through their growing platform. We believe this latest funding round will support the Company’s continued growth and success,” said Marc Rowan, Co-Founder and CEO of Apollo.

“CAIS has built a unique marketplace for alternatives through a commitment to excellent service and education. This investment will turbo-charge the technology transformation of the business towards a modular, flexible cloud-based architecture, which will modernize the way investors gain access to this asset class, allowing managers, investors, and their advisors to focus less on process and more on value-added interactions,” said Blythe Masters, Founding Partner at Motive.

CAIS serves the independent wealth management community, which has been historically under-allocated to alternatives when compared with large national broker-dealers or institutional investors, whether due to complexity, higher minimums, and fees, need for education, or other barriers to entry. As the first truly open marketplace for alternative investments, where financial advisors and asset managers can engage and transact at scale, CAIS seeks to remove these barriers, enabling advisors to enhance outcomes for their investors and providing managers with centralized access to a highly fragmented wealth management community.

“We believe that individual investors should have access to the same alternative investment solutions as large institutions, and CAIS is doing just that through its innovative and user-friendly platform,” said Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Templeton. “CAIS shares our goal of making it easier for advisors and individual investors to diversify into alternatives to meet their investment objectives.”

Financial Technology Partners served as financial advisor to CAIS on the transaction.

About CAIS
CAIS is the leading alternative investment platform for financial advisors who seek improved access to, and education about, alternative investment funds and products. CAIS provides financial advisors with a broad selection of alternative investment strategies, including hedge funds, private equity, private credit, real estate, digital assets, and structured notes, allowing them to capitalize on opportunities and/or withstand ever-changing markets. CAIS also provides an industry-leading learning system, CAIS IQ, to help advisors learn faster, remember longer, and improve client outcomes.

All funds listed on CAIS undergo Mercer’s independent due diligence and ongoing monitoring. Mercer diligence reports and fund ratings are available to advisors on the CAIS password-protected platform. CAIS streamlines the end-to-end transaction process through digital subscriptions and integrated reporting with Fidelity, Schwab, and Pershing, which make investing in alternatives simple.

Founded in 2009, CAIS, a fintech leader, is empowering over 4,400+ unique advisor firms/teams who oversee more than $2T+ in network assets. Since inception, CAIS has facilitated over $13.8B+ in transaction volume as the first truly open marketplace where financial advisors and asset managers engage and transact directly on a massive scale. CAIS has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco.

Securities offered through CAIS Capital LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.

About Apollo
Apollo is a global, high-growth alternative asset manager. In our asset management business, we seek to provide our clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade to private equity with a focus on three business strategies: yield, hybrid, and equity. For more than three decades, our investing expertise across our fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of our clients and provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. Through Athene, our retirement services business, we specialize in helping clients achieve financial security by providing a suite of retirement savings products and acting as a solutions provider to institutions. Our patient, creative, and knowledgeable approach to investing aligns our clients, businesses we invest in, our employees, and the communities we impact, to expand opportunity and achieve positive outcomes. As of September 30, 2021, Apollo had approximately $481 billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com.

About Motive Partners
Motive Partners is a specialist private equity firm with offices in New York City and London, focusing on growth equity and buyout investments in software and information services companies based in North America and Europe and serving five primary subsectors: Banking & Payments, Capital Markets, Data & Analytics, Investment Management and Insurance. Motive Partners brings differentiated expertise, connectivity and capabilities to create long-term value in financial technology companies. More information on Motive Partners can be found at www.motivepartners.com.

About Franklin Templeton
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 165 countries. Franklin Templeton’s mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the Company brings extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has over 70 years of investment experience and over $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of November 30, 2021. For more information, please visit franklinresources.com.

Media

For CAIS:

Nadia Damouni

Pro-CAISPR@Prosek.com

For Apollo:

Joanna Rose, Global Head of Corporate Communications

Communications@apollo.com

Noah Gunn, Global Head of Investor Relations

IR@apollo.com

For Motive Partners:

Sam Tidswell-Norrish

Investor Relations

sam@motivepartners.com

For Franklin Templeton:

Matthew Walsh

matthew.walsh@franklintempleton.com

Source: CAIS

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