Voya Financial (VOYA) Acquires Czech Asset Management

Voya Investment Management (Voya IM), the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Czech Asset Management, L.P. (CAM), a leading private credit asset manager dedicated to the U.S. middle market.

“At Voya IM, continuing to build out our range of innovative, private markets and alternative capabilities has been a strategic focus and growth driver for our firm and the industry at large,” said Christine Hurtsellers, chief executive officer, Voya IM. “The team at CAM will complement our leading fixed income platform and accelerate the expansion of our private and leveraged credit franchise across institutional, insurance and retail channels.”

With more than $5 billion of committed capital across four funds since its founding in 2011,

CAM specializes in providing privately negotiated first and second lien floating rate senior secured loans primarily to U.S. middle market companies. The CAM team brings to Voya IM strong relationships with a robust group of investment partnerships, including public and private pension funds, endowments, foundations, religious organizations and Taft Hartley plans.

Following the closing of the transaction, all of CAM’s current investment and operations teams will join Voya IM, including its founder, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer Stephen J. Czech. The CAM team will remain in Connecticut and become part of Voya’s fixed income team. The CAM team will continue to manage the CAM funds at Voya IM, maintaining CAM’s proven investment philosophy and process while leveraging Voya’s global distribution capabilities and robust leveraged credit platform. Current clients in the CAM funds will continue to have the team manage their assets at Voya IM.

“We believe that Voya’s global distribution capabilities, recently enhanced by the closing of the Allianz Global Investors transaction, its leveraged finance platform, intellectual capital and transaction flow will materially enhance our ability to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our investors and expand our reach in the U.S. middle market,” said Czech. “Voya’s client-centric, collaborative culture and its compelling investment track record are consistent with CAM’s values, and we look forward to supporting the continued growth of the Voya direct lending platform in the years to come and to the benefit of current and future clients.”

The addition of CAM further builds upon Voya IM’s continued growth and expansion of private and alternative capabilities. In 2021, Voya IM committed $4.4 billion across private placement investments, including $3.7 billion invested on behalf of institutional clients.

Through expanding its private markets and alternatives franchise, Voya IM has also been focused on building out its global distribution reach through its recently formed long-term, strategic distribution partnership with Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), under which AllianzGI distributes Voya IM’s investment strategies outside the U.S. and Canada.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed and are not material to Voya’s financial position. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Eversheds Sutherland LLP is serving as legal counsel to Voya in connection with the transaction. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP is serving as legal counsel and Piper Sandler & Co. is serving as financial advisor to CAM in connection with this transaction.

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