Liquid Credit Growth
Clearlake Capital Strengthens Liquid Credit Platform with Acquisition of LCM Asset Management CLO Contracts
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Clearlake Capital Group has taken over management of 31 collateralized loan obligation contracts from LCM Asset Management, adding more than $5 billion in assets under management to its credit platform Financial Post. The deal pushes Clearlake Credit's total AUM to $39 billion and arrives just days after Clearlake closed its acquisition of Pathway Capital Management, lifting the firm's overall AUM to over $185 billion National Post.
LCM's 31 CLOs Now Under Clearlake Credit's Control
CLOs — collateralized loan obligations — are investment vehicles that pool corporate loans and sell slices of the pool to investors. Managing them generates steady fee income. Clearlake Credit assumed the management contracts previously held by LCM Asset Management, a subsidiary of publicly traded Tiptree Inc. (NASDAQ: TIPT), according to Ottawa Sun. GreensLedge Capital Markets served as the exclusive financial advisor to Tiptree and LCM in the deal.
Legal firm Milbank LLP and Dechert LLP advised Clearlake Credit on the transaction Calgary Sun. The transfer of management contracts — rather than the underlying assets themselves — is a common tactic in alternative asset management. It lets a buyer quickly add fee-generating scale without purchasing the bonds or loans inside the CLOs.
A Credit Platform Built Deal by Deal Since 2020
Clearlake has been building its credit business through a series of targeted acquisitions. The firm bought a majority stake in WhiteStar Asset Management in 2020, then added Carlson Capital's five CLOs — worth $2 billion — in March 2022. It agreed to acquire pan-European private credit specialist MV Credit from Natixis Investment Managers in September 2024. Clearlake formally unified all three businesses under the Clearlake Credit banner in May 2025 Prince George Post.
Co-founders José Feliciano and Behdad Eghbali said the LCM deal "marks an important milestone" in building a "leading global alternatives platform." James Pade, the partner overseeing Clearlake Credit, has described the firm's goal as becoming a "one-stop-shop" for sponsors seeking different types of financing across the full capital stack Fairview Post.
Tiptree Exits CLO Management as Smaller Firms Sell to Big Platforms
For Tiptree, the sale represents a strategic exit from the CLO management business. Smaller, independent CLO managers face rising regulatory and operational costs. That pressure is pushing many to sell their management contracts to large "platform" firms like Clearlake, which can spread those costs across dozens of funds The Whig.
Market analysts see a narrowing field of independent CLO managers as a result of this consolidation trend. Some express concern that fewer, larger managers could reduce diversity in credit pricing and terms for corporate borrowers. For Tiptree's shareholders, however, the deal is widely viewed as a successful harvest of an asset, freeing capital for the firm's insurance and mortgage businesses Fort Saskatchewan Record.
$185 Billion Firm Eyes Spot Among Asset Management Giants
With total firm AUM now exceeding $185 billion — up from roughly $90 billion before the MV Credit and Pathway deals — Clearlake is making a clear push into the top tier of global alternative asset managers Northern News. That puts it in closer competition with firms like Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR for the largest institutional mandates.
Clearlake now operates from 14 global offices, including new outposts in Asia and the Middle East. The LCM acquisition deepens the firm's relationships with institutional investors by giving them access to both private equity and liquid credit from a single manager PR Record Gazette. The firm's next challenge is integration — merging LCM's investment teams and infrastructure into the existing Clearlake Credit operation.
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