Manulife Financial closes Comvest Credit acquisition

Executive Summary

• Manulife Financial Corp. has completed the acquisition of a 75% stake in Comvest Credit Partners, creating a leading private credit asset management platform.
• The transaction is immediately accretive to Manulife’s core EPS, core ROE, and core EBITDA margin.
• Comvest employees will retain a 25% interest in the entity, with a path to full ownership by Manulife six years post-closing.

Key Details

• Transaction Structure: Manulife acquired 75% of Comvest Credit Partners.
• Seller/Retained Interest: Comvest employees retain a 25% interest in Comvest, providing alignment, with a path to full ownership by Manulife six years post-closing.
• Target Entity: Comvest Credit Partners is a fully owned subsidiary of Comvest Partners.
• Exclusions: Comvest Partners' private equity strategy, Comvest Investment Partners, is not included in the agreement.
• Strategic Rationale: The new platform, Manulife/Comvest Credit Partners, combines Comvest’s leadership and origination channels with Manulife’s global scale and distribution network.
• Platform Focus: Provides creative and flexible private credit solutions to sponsored and non-sponsored companies, aiming to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns across market cycles.
• Financial Impact: The transaction is immediately accretive to core EPS, core ROE, and core EBITDA margin.

Notable Quotes

• "We are excited to officially welcome the Comvest team to Manulife. The transaction scales and enhances our private market platform, and is immediately accretive to core EPS, core ROE and core EBITDA margin. The combined platform creates significant opportunity given our global distribution capabilities and I am confident we will drive robust and sustainable growth." — Phil Witherington, Manulife President and CEO