Tikehau raises $300m CFO to fund commitments including private debt secondaries

The CFO’s assets consisted of interests in Tikehau’s own debt funds as well as third-party managed private debt funds originated by the firm’s private debt secondaries strategy.

Tikehau Capital has raised a $300 million collateralised fund obligation backed by cashflows from commitments to its direct lending and private debt secondaries strategies.

The CFO’s assets consisted of interests in Tikehau’s own debt funds as well as third-party managed private debt funds originated by the firm’s private debt secondaries strategy, according to a statement from Jefferies, which advised on the transaction.

The CFO assets were largely Tikehau-managed funds, specifically the direct lending and private debt secondaries strategies which were held on the firm’s balance sheet, a source familiar with the transaction said. The raise took approximately three months, the person added.

The rated debt and equity tranches were placed with large US institutional investors with Tikehau retaining a minority share of the equity, the statement said.

Jefferies’ private capital advisory practice and the bank’s securitised markets group both worked to complete the transaction as Tikehau’s placement agent.

The transaction will have a positive impact on Tikehau Capital’s cash position over the life of the vehicle while providing investors with innovative access to private debt, the statement added.

Many GPs have been actively contemplating CFOs with several completed last year, Scott Beckelman, global co-head of private capital advisory at Jefferies, and managing director Rich Saltzman, told Secondaries Investor via email.

“CFOs enable sponsors to raise third-party debt and equity capital to deploy into their managed fund vehicles and drive fundraising objectives,” they added. “More specifically, sponsors are able to tap into an investor universe, such as insurance companies, who typically struggle to make traditional LP fund investments, thereby expanding their investor base and building key relationships.”

While private equity and private credit asset classes have more commonly used CFO structures, transactions can be collateralised with a variety of financial assets and strategies, including growth equity, venture, infrastructure and real estate, they added.