Navis enters Asia credit space

Justin Ferrier, who spent the last five years helping build BlackRock’s private credit business in the region, has been recruited to lead the new unit. He worked for Asia credit and special situations investor ADM Capital for eight years through 2007 and then spun out to form Myo Capital, which focused on private lending and special situations. Myo was wound down in 2016.

Navis closed its eighth private equity fund, which backs growth companies in Southeast Asia and makes select control investments in Australia and New Zealand and Greater China, on USD 900m in August 2021, short of the USD 1.5bn target. It also secured USD 450m for a continuation vehicle that features several companies from Fund VI.

Various global private equity firms, as well as some of the more established regional managers, are rolling out credit strategies in Asia. Having the ability to take advantage of opportunities where the target company is reluctant to take equity funding and filling the gap left by banks that are withdrawing from direct lending are commonly cited driving factors.

Nick Bloy, a managing partner at Navis, said that the credit unit would leverage deal flow coming from the private equity side and focus on secured credit investments. It will position itself “as a partner to businesses that typically resist equity dilution in the early years of a relationship when looking for expansion capital for M&A, organic expansion, or ownership transition.”

Founded in 1998, Navis manages approximately USD 5bn in private equity capital and has a team of 60 investment professionals. The firm has completed 90 control transactions since inception and made over 60 exits, mainly to trade buyers.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Credit/Special Situations
• Credit
• People
• Navis Management
• Asia
• private debt
• Appointments