Värde Partners and J.C. Flowers Agree to Sell Fairstone Financial Holdings Inc. to Duo Bank of Canada
NEW YORK – An investor group led by J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC, a leading private investment firm specializing in the financial services industry, and Värde Partners, Inc., a leading global alternative investment firm, today announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to sell Fairstone Financial Holdings Inc. (“Fairstone” or “the Company”) to Duo Bank of Canada, a Toronto-based financial services provider supported by Stephen Smith, Centerbridge Partners L.P. and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020, were not disclosed.
Värde Partners and J.C. Flowers acted as equal partners in the transaction. The investor group acquired CitiFinancial Canada from Citi in 2017 and rebranded the Company as Fairstone with the goal of supporting its growth and market-leading position in the consumer finance space. Under the ownership of J.C. Flowers and Värde, Fairstone has grown into Canada’s leading non-bank provider of responsible credit solutions for near-prime borrowers.
Today, Fairstone has over C$3 billion in assets on a consolidated basis and a network of 239 branches with approximately 1,400 employees nationwide. The Company has diversified its capital structure and taken steps to reduce its funding costs as a standalone entity, including issuing the first consumer loan ABS transaction in the Canadian market. During J.C. Flowers’ and Värde’s ownership, Fairstone made significant investments to establish a best-in-class enterprise technology platform, enhanced its data-driven custom credit scoring models, developed a customer-centric approach to client service, and diversified its product and geography mix to reach a broader customer base.
“The transformation Fairstone has undergone in only three years has been remarkable, and we’re pleased to have helped create the leading non-bank lender in Canada,” said Thomas Harding, Managing Director at J.C. Flowers. “Fairstone represents the type of investment J.C. Flowers specializes in, taking a complex financial company and repositioning it for future growth.”
“We are proud of the work done to build Fairstone into Canada’s leading non-bank lender. We partnered with the team to create a fully standalone operating and financing model with new technology and digital capabilities deployed,” said Aneek Mamik, Senior Managing Director and Head of North America & Asia Financial Services at Värde Partners. “Värde’s more than 20 years’ experience investing in the sector enabled us to help the Fairstone team take the business to the next level.”
“It’s been a pleasure partnering with J.C. Flowers and Värde Partners and working together to create the Fairstone brand, develop robust digital marketing channels, expand omnichannel lending capabilities, transform our technology platforms and build an efficient capital structure. Together, we succeeded in growing Fairstone’s portfolio, revenues and earnings. I look forward to the next stage in our growth plan,” added Scott Wood, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fairstone.
Citi and National Bank Financial Inc. acted as lead financial advisors to J.C. Flowers and Värde, and Barclays also served as a financial advisor. Stikeman Elliott was legal counsel to J.C. Flowers and Värde.
About Fairstone Financial Holdings Inc.
Fairstone is Canada’s leading non-bank provider of responsible lending solutions for near-prime borrowers with over C$3 billion in assets on a consolidated basis. Fairstone, including through its predecessors, has close to a 100-year history of providing Canadians with access to responsible credit. The Company has two key business lines: lending directly to consumers through its branch network and online; and financing consumer retail and car purchases through retailers and dealerships. Headquartered in Montreal, Fairstone is privately-held by an investor group led by funds managed by affiliates of J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC and Värde Partners, Inc. More at Fairstone.ca.
About Värde Partners, Inc.
Värde Partners is a leading global alternative investment firm with roots in credit and distressed. Founded in 1993, the firm has invested more than $68 billion since inception and manages over $14 billion on behalf of a global investor base. The firm’s investments span corporate and traded credit, real estate and mortgages, private equity and direct lending. Värde employs more than 300 professionals across 13 offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.varde.com.
About J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC
J.C. Flowers is a leading private investment firm dedicated to investing globally in the financial services industry. Founded in 1998, the firm has invested more than $16 billion of capital, including co-investment, in 56 portfolio companies in 18 countries across a range of industry subsectors including banking, insurance and reinsurance, securities firms, specialty finance, and services and asset management. With approximately $6 billion of assets under management, J.C. Flowers has offices in New York and London. For more information, please visit www.jcfco.com.
Värde Partners Acquires Grade A Office Building in Mumbai
MUMBAI – Värde Partners, a leading global alternative investment firm, today announced the acquisition of Lodha Excelus, New Cuffe Parade (”LNCP”) from the Lodha Group.
LNCP is a Grade A multi-tenant office building in Mumbai’s business district.
“Prime Indian office assets benefit from strong fundamentals including rising rents, falling vacancies and favorable supply-demand dynamics,” said Tim Mooney, Partner and Global Head of Real Estate. “The newly built Lodha Excelus, New Cuffe Parade is well-located by strong local transport infrastructure with convenient access from the business district and heavily populated eastern suburbs.”
Värde invests in real estate assets, loans and operating companies globally. The firm opened its office in Mumbai in 2018 and has invested over $1 billion in India.
Built in 2018, LNCP has over 827,000 sq. ft. of office space spread over 29 floors and forms part of a 22 acre mixed-use development. Anchor tenants include Tata International, GMM Pfaudler and Axis Bank.
The five floors in LNCP purchased by Tata Group in 2019 will continue to be owned by Tata.
About Värde Partners
Värde Partners is a leading global alternative investment firm with roots in credit and distressed. Founded in 1993, the firm has invested more than $68 billion since inception and manages over $14 billion on behalf of a global investor base. The firm’s investments span corporate and traded credit, real estate and mortgages, private equity and direct lending. Värde employs more than 300 professionals across 13 offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.varde.com.
Värde Partners to sell luxury hotel group The Dedica Anthology
MILAN – Värde Partners, a leading global alternative investment firm, today announced that on 31 December, 2019, it entered into a definitive agreement to sell a portfolio of eight luxury hotels operating under The Dedica Anthology brand (“Dedica”) to Covivio, a European real estate operator, through its subsidiary Covivio Hotels.
The portfolio comprises eight luxury full service independent hotels with an aggregate of over 1,100 rooms located in the major tourist destinations of Rome, Nice, Budapest, Prague, Florence and Venice. Enterprise value of the transaction is approximately €600 million.
Värde began buying the debt of the company in 2016 through a complex series of transactions, ultimately acquiring 100% of the equity in 2017. Värde has since taken a number of steps to transform the business through its value creation plan. In 2018 the hotels were re-branded The Dedica Anthology.
“At the time we acquired the business it was in severe financial difficulty and facing an uncertain future,” said Francisco Milone, Partner and Head of European Real Estate at Värde Partners. “Having appointed a best-in-class management team, together we have rebuilt trust with the company’s financial partners allowing us to refinance the business and execute an ambitious investment programme. Our real estate investment strategy targets opportunistic and value-add investments across commercial and residential markets, and we continue to explore opportunities in the Italian market.”
Värde began investing in Italy starting in 2006 and opened its office in Milan in 2014. To date, the firm has invested $1.5 billion in the country across real estate, UTP, NPL, sovereign and corporate credit.
Stephen Alden, Chief Executive Officer of The Dedica Anthology, said:
“The luxury hotel industry is changing rapidly in response to evolving customer preferences and increasing demand from travellers with a more millennial mind-set. Our investment strategy, including a major renovation programme across the portfolio, is designed to capture the full potential of our collection of iconic hotels. We have enjoyed an excellent relationship with Värde Partners and look forward to the future as the portfolio embarks on an exciting new phase of its journey.”
Upon closing Covivio will have full ownership of the property portfolio, which will be operated under the brands NH Collection, NH Hotels and Anantara.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2020, subject to closing conditions.
The eight hotels included in the transaction are:
- Rome – Palazzo Naiadi
- Nice – Plaza Nice
- Budapest – New York Palace
- Budapest – New York Residence
- Prague – Carlo IV
- Florence – Palazzo Gaddi
- Venice – Grand Hotel Dei Dogi
- Venice – Hotel Bellini
About Värde Partners
Värde Partners is a leading global alternative investment firm with roots in credit and distressed. Founded in 1993, the firm has invested more than $68 billion since inception and manages over $14 billion on behalf of a global investor base. The firm’s investments span corporate and traded credit, real estate and mortgages, private equity and direct lending. Värde employs more than 300 professionals across 13 offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.varde.com.
About The Dedica Anthology
The Dedica Anthology is a portfolio of eight distinctive hotels in select cities in Italy and across Europe. Pioneering a new vision of curated, contemporary hôtellerie, the brand fuses classic locations with a modern mindset and skilled hotelcraft, to create places where people want to be, and return to. ‘Dedica’ refers to a dedication to the art of curated hotel-keeping, while ‘Anthology’ describes the collection of unique stories represented by the hotels and their guests
Värde Partners Exceeds Target Raising Nearly $2.5 Billion in 13th Flagship Fund
MINNEAPOLIS, NEW YORK, LONDON & SINGAPORE – Värde Partners, a leading global alternative investment firm, today announced it has raised its 13th flagship vehicle, Värde Fund XIII (“the Fund”), with $2.47 billion in commitments.
The Fund exceeded its $2 billion target and will have the flexibility to invest in a range of credit and credit-related assets globally across liquid traded credit, special situations, real estate and financial services.
“Over the past 26 years we have built a global platform with the agility to seek attractive risk-adjusted value in opportunistic credit and asset markets,” said George Hicks, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “In this fund, we utilize our deep experience through many market cycles with the flexibility to invest in both private and liquid markets, across capital structures and regions.”
Värde expects the opportunity set to be driven by systemic distress factors, including where financial systems retain persistent high levels of non-performing loans, and cyclical opportunities associated with industry or economic downturns.
“Against a backdrop of intense economic uncertainty, there are several significant pockets of distress around the world today, and we expect that opportunity to grow over the investment period of the Fund,” said Ilfryn Carstairs, Global Co-Chief Investment Officer. “We have strategically built our right to play in markets where we can target the gaps left behind by traditional capital providers as they continue to retrench.”
“The strong support for this fundraise came from both new and long-time investors,” added Jon Fox, Partner and Global Head of Business Development and Investor Relations. “We appreciate the confidence that this diverse investor base has in the power of the Värde platform.”
In addition to its flagship funds, Värde has previously raised dedicated capital for targeted investment strategies in Asia, Europe, mortgages, private debt, real estate, and specialty finance.
Värde Partners is a leading global alternative investment firm with roots in credit and distressed. Founded in 1993, the firm has invested more than $68 billion since inception and manages over $14 billion on behalf of a global investor base. The firm’s investments span corporate and traded credit, real estate and mortgages, private equity and direct lending. Värde employs more than 300 professionals across 13 offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.varde.com.
Elena Lieskovska Named in WSJ PRO PE’s ‘Women to Watch’
Elena Lieskovska, Partner and Head of European Financial Services at Värde Partners, has been named in WSJ Pro Private Equity’s “Women to Watch: Top Female Deal Makers Shaping Private Equity’s Present & Future”.
Read the full article here.
Accolades referenced do not reflect the experiences of any Värde investor and readers should not view such information as representative of any particular investor’s experience or assume that they will have a similar investment experience as any previous or existing client. Accolades are not indicative of the past or future performance of any Värde product or service. Ms. Lieskovska’s inclusion in the attached and above-referenced list arose at least in part from a recommendation submitted by Värde which included the representative transactions referenced therein. Such representative transactions were provided for illustrative purposes only and are not indicative of the past or future performance of any such transactions.
Bison Oil & Gas Announces Closing of Term Loan Facility with Vӓrde Partners
DENVER and HOUSTON – Bison Oil & Gas Partners II, LLC (“Bison”) today announced the closing of a $155 million term loan facility with Värde Partners (“Värde”), a leading global alternative investment firm. The proceeds will be used to fund Bison’s ongoing drilling program and the expansion of Bison’s rural asset base in the Denver-Julesburg Basin (the “DJ Basin”), to repay existing debt and to provide a distribution to Bison’s equity holders.
“We are grateful to establish this partnership with the Värde team, whom we have known for many years,” said Austin Akers, Bison’s Chief Executive Officer. “The DJ Basin continues to offer some of the best drilling economics in the country, and we are excited to use this capital to accelerate the development of our inventory of more than 300 permitted drilling locations across multiple proven benches of the Niobrara and Codell formations. This facility further cements our liquidity and provides additional ammunition to play offense during this opportunity-rich time in the oil and gas industry.”
Bison currently operates more than 20 wells across its approximately 50,000 net acre position in northeast Weld County, Colorado. Bison’s horizontal wells drilled to date, which cost approximately $5 million to drill and complete, have achieved average 30-day peak production rates of 125 barrels of oil equivalent per day, per thousand lateral feet (~80% oil). The wells have demonstrated very flat decline profiles, resulting in highly attractive single well economics at current commodity pricing.
“We are impressed with the Bison team and the results they have delivered to date, and we are pleased to provide this strategic capital to further advance development of these assets,” said Markus Specks, Managing Director and Head of Värde’s Houston office.
Värde Partners’ Houston-based energy team focuses on credit, equity and structured asset-level investments to provide tailored capital solutions to fit the needs of an evolving industry. Värde has invested nearly $1 billion in structured and asset-level energy solutions in the last three years.
About Bison Oil & Gas Partners II, LLC
Bison is an oil and gas exploration and production company located in Denver, Colorado. With equity capital from an investment fund managed by Carnelian Energy Capital Management, L.P. and Bison’s management team, Bison’s mission is to create value through responsible oil and gas development that ensures maximum benefits to all stakeholders by operating smartly, ethically, responsibly and on the cutting edge of technology. Please visit www.bisonog.com for more information.
About Värde Partners, Inc.
Värde Partners is a $14 billion global alternative investment firm that employs a value-based approach to investing across a broad array of geographies, segments and asset types, including mortgages, corporate credit, real estate, specialty finance, energy, real assets and infrastructure. The firm sponsors and manages a family of private investment funds with a global investor base that includes foundations and endowments, pension plans, insurance companies, other institutional investors and private clients. Now in its third decade, Värde employs more than 300 people globally with regional headquarters in Minneapolis, London and Singapore. For more information about the firm, please visit www.varde.com.