News & Events

Ivy asset group closes on $115 million direct lending fund

Charleston, South Carolina

Published on: May 10, 2022

Ivy Asset Group, LLC (“Ivy”) today announced the final close of its 2022 Ivy Credit Opportunity Fund (“Fund”) with $115 million of capital raised, including targeted fund leverage and separately managed accounts investing alongside the Fund. The Fund has limited partner commitments with just under 100 investors. The Fund primarily targets direct lending to lower middle-market U.S. companies with less than $35 million in EBITDA.

The Fund is Ivy’s largest to date, exceeding Ivy Nine which deployed approximately $73 million of capital and Ivy Funding Company which deployed approximately $45 million.

Fund investors are located throughout the United States. Limited partners include leading RIAs, high net worth individuals, private pension plans, insurance companies, family offices and other institutional investors. In addition to the limited partner commitments, the Fund has secured a term credit facility to complement its available capital.

The Fund will invest in private credit transactions originated and underwritten by Ivy. The investment strategy is focused primarily on senior secured loans and junior secured loans to private equity- sponsored, independent-sponsored, and non-sponsored lower middle-market companies diversified across multiple industries, located throughout the U.S. and Canada. As of May 1, 2022, the Fund has already invested approximately $90 million in 28 transactions. The Fund is expected to generate returns consistent with past investments of the firm. This is Ivy’s 17th investment vehicle since its founding in 2009.

Noted by John Hooff, Managing Partner, “The Fund was oversubscribed by over $35 million, which is a direct reflection of strong investor demand for quality credit, trustworthy relationships with long-term partners and our continued successful track record and clean performance. We are pleased that the Fund was actively investing during 2021, a record year for deal volume in which Ivy and its seasoned deal team invested in a variety of transactions. The highly fragmented and underserved nature of the lower-middle markets continue to offer long-tenured, skilled investors an advantage in generating above-market returns.”

Mason Pope, Managing Partner of Ivy, added “We value the investment of our limited partners for their confidence in our ability to generate consistent and attractive risk-adjusted returns. We continue to leverage our best-in-class platform to provide unique access to niche areas within the lower-middle market. The high volatility and inflationary environment we face has led many investors to seek safe floating rate yield to drive investment returns. We are proud that the institutional investor community continues to appreciate the differentiated returns that Ivy has been able to consistently generate since the inception of our firm in 2009 – regardless of the business cycle or economic climate.”

Many of Ivy’s portfolio companies have been recognized by EY, ABF Journal, American Banker, Nilson Reports and others as leaders in their field. In 2021, EY announced Rasha Katabi of Brim Financial, one of the fastest growing licensed credit card issuers and fintech companies in Canada, has been selected for the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women North America Class of 2021. In March of 2022, Upgrade Card became the fastest growing US Credit Card according to Nilson Report and the first Fintech company to enter the top 50 of their Visa/Mastercard Issuers.

About Ivy Asset Group
Ivy Asset Group, LLC (“Ivy”) is an alternative credit manager that seeks to provide financing solutions across the credit spectrum to lower-middle markets businesses. Through Ivy’s family of Private Credit funds, it lends to companies with EBITDA up to $35 million. Ivy primarily invests through asset based and cash flow lending transactions in portfolio companies with highly proven track records. Our executive team has extensive management experience in leveraged lending, investment banking, operations, financing, and consulting. Since inception in 2009, the firm has successfully deployed over $1.2 billion of debt capital into transactions up to $75 million. Ivy is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina. ivyassetgroup.com.