Kirkland Advises Comvest on Creation of a Leading Private Credit Asset Management Platform with Manulife
Kirkland & Ellis advised Comvest Credit Partners, a leading middle market direct lending private credit manager with $14.7 billion of assets under management (AUM) on its platform, on a definitive agreement to sell a 75% stake in its private credit business to Manulife. As part of the agreement, Manulife’s existing Senior Credit team managing $3.7 billion AUM will align with the Comvest team to create a stand-alone $18.4 billion AUM private credit asset management platform.
The new partnership will further strengthen Comvest’s long standing position in the private credit market and support its continued growth in the founder-owned and sponsor-backed segments. The enhanced platform will also benefit from Manulife’s strong reputation serving the private equity sponsor-backed market and it will significantly enhance origination reach, access to capital and help meet increasing demand for private credit from a diversified borrower-base, with a focus on delivering strong risk-adjusted returns for investors across market cycles. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.
Read the transaction press release
The Kirkland team included asset management M&A lawyers Christopher Gandia, Jack Rossman and Daniel Lavon-Krein; and investment fund lawyers Chris Kallos and Nick DiCrescenzo.
