London - Mapping the Distressed / "Special Sits" Funds

In your view, what are the leading distressed / special sits (I know it's become a bit of a catch-all term) funds in London & Europe more broadly?

Any new / up-and-coming funds to keep an eye on?

Understand this is a fast-growing space with lots of new funds as everyone is waiting for a wave of restructurings if/when emergency liquidity runs out – any intel on the space would be greatly appreciated.

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Will use special sits as a catch-all term.

First of all, don't underestimate the PE retrenchment from special sits. Apollo restructured, TPG sold, EQT sold, KKR and CVC have moved to do mostly private debt mostly. Some of the coolest places historically were the credit arms of PEs.

Up and coming is a tough question to answer - most never get to "escape velocity" and stagnate around $1bn AUM. Caius and Blantyre are two example of places that seem to have got beyond this. Attestor also crushing it.

The top shops are still places like Davidson Kempner, Centerbridge, Anchorage, Oaktree, SVP. There are loads of rumours about places like King Street, Goldentree, Varde (AUM shrinkage, departures, cultural issues).

 

Would keep an eye out for funds with an "all weather" / "hybrid" mandate vs distressed only. In traditional distressed, GPs have been sitting on that cash they raised for too long, so they have to do deals whether there are good ones out there are not. Examples of European hybrid players are Apollo HVF and KKR Dislocation Fund - both funds have performed great. Think APO especially has added significant headcount in LDN recently

 

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