CVC Capital Partners , listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange, has decided to take a leap in its credit strategy in the United States with the purchase of Marathon Asset Management, a New York-based asset manager founded in 1998 and specializing in different credit verticals.
The deal, announced on Monday morning, January 26, combines cash and equity and comes at a time when the alternative investment sector is experiencing a new round of consolidation, with major players rushing to complement their portfolios and gain scale.
The closing of the deal is expected in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Following this, a rebranding is planned, with the company being renamed CVC-Marathon.
According to the transaction structure, CVC will acquire Marathon in a two-tiered package. The first tier is a base value of up to US$1.2 billion, comprised of US$400 million in cash and up to US$800 million in CVC's own stock.
The second option adds a variable component ( earnout ) linked to Marathon's future financial performance: up to US$200 million in cash and US$200 million in stock over the period from 2027 to 2029. In other words, if the goals are met, the total investment could reach US$1.6 billion.
The rationale for the purchase involves an objective analysis: credit in the US is one of the few areas where CVC did not yet have a density comparable to its European presence. And, in the current market, "not having scale" has become synonymous with losing ground in the competition for fundraising and distribution, especially with investors reducing the number of managers in their portfolios and concentrating resources on more comprehensive platforms.
This priority was clearly evident in the speech by Peter Rutland, promoted to president of CVC the previous month, when announcing the acquisition: “The US credit market is a key priority for us, and we have been working patiently, waiting for the right opportunity to find a company that meets the exceptional level of quality of returns we seek.”
Marathon enters the CVC portfolio with a set of strategies that go beyond traditional direct lending . According to the statement, the asset manager has positions in asset-based credit, real estate credit , opportunistic credit, and public credit in the US. This range expands CVC's access to a large and growing market in the world's largest economy.
In numbers, Marathon manages over US$24 billion, with a team of approximately 190 professionals globally. Founders Bruce Richards and Lou Hanover remain at the helm, co-leading credit strategies.
From CVC's perspective, the impact is immediate on scale metrics: the combination should increase the credit unit's fee-paying assets under management (AUM) by more than a third, bringing the total to €61 billion (US$72 billion).
However, the market did not react with immediate enthusiasm to the acquisition. On Monday morning, CVC shares fell as much as 1.8% at the start of trading in Amsterdam.
One of the reasons is that the value and synergy of the acquisition will only be priced into the share price in 2028. The investor will monitor the integration and, especially, the ability to transform additional scale into organic growth in fundraising and profitability.
Race for scale
This move is yet another chapter in the ongoing consolidation of the global private credit market , a sector that grew in the shadow of more regulated banks and is now experiencing a surge in M&As, with platforms seeking scale, new strategies, and geographic presence.
Private credit has grown rapidly in recent years as stricter regulations have made bank loans more expensive for higher-risk transactions, opening up opportunities for non-bank lenders such as asset managers.
In this process, the boundaries between buyout firms and credit platforms have become increasingly blurred. In the US, giants like Blackstone , Apollo, and Carlyle have expanded their credit franchises and now manage significant volumes in this asset class alongside private equity firms.
At the same time, the industry is experiencing a kind of "funnel effect": with fundraising becoming more difficult, many investors are reducing the number of managers in their portfolios and concentrating resources on larger platforms with multiple strategies and the ability to originate in different cycles. This is fueling the wave of corporate transactions in the sector.
CVC appears as one of the protagonists of this repositioning. Last week, the European asset manager also announced an agreement with AIG to direct up to US$3.5 billion of the insurer's capital to credit and secondary strategies managed by CVC.
Industry consolidation is also happening because, in addition to large players seeking scale, founders of specialized firms are starting to look at succession and liquidity.
The most recent example came just a few days earlier: on January 22, the Swedish firm EQT announced an agreement to buy Coller Capital for US$3.2 billion, in a move to gain a stronger position in the secondaries market, one of the fastest-growing segments within alternatives.
