(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Petershill unit agreed to acquire a minority stake in Kennedy Lewis Investment Management — yet another bet by Wall Street’s biggest firms in the continued growth of the market for private assets.
Petershill, which specializes in buying stakes in alternative-asset managers, will own about 40% of the credit investment firm’s management company and receive roughly 30% of the carried interest from its funds, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Financial companies are snapping up minority stakes in private-investment firms at a rapid clip amid efforts to expand into more lucrative markets. Goldman rivals including Blackstone Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. have dedicated strategies for picking up third-party asset manager minority stakes and partnerships.
Petershill’s acquisition includes the 20% stake that Kennedy Lewis sold to Azimut Group in 2020. The transaction will leave Kennedy Lewis’s founders with continued majority control, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
Azimut is receiving $225 million from the transaction, some of the people said. Representatives for Goldman Sachs, Kennedy Lewis and Azimut declined to comment on terms.
Since its founding by David Chene and Darren Richman in 2017, Kennedy Lewis has charted a rapid expansion. It has pushed into strategies focusing on private credit, business development companies, collateralized loan obligations and real estate investment trusts.
Petershill was established by Goldman Sachs in 2007 to acquire minority positions in private equity, hedge funds and other alternative-asset managers. The business primarily makes money from fees generated by the firms it invests with.
Kennedy Lewis had been exploring a stake deal and even received approaches for an outright sale. Janus Henderson Group Plc previously reached out to the credit firm about a possible deal in late 2023 that didn’t result in a transaction.
(Updates with carried interest in second paragraph.)
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