Manulife Financial to acquire Comvest Credit Partners for $937.5M

Manulife Financial (MFC) has signed an agreement to acquire 75% of Comvest Credit Partners for $937.5M in upfront consideration. Comvest is a middle market direct lending private credit manager with $14.7B on its platform. As part of the agreement, Manulife will align its $3.7B Senior Credit team with Comvest, creating a $18.4B private credit asset management platform. Manulife intends to co-brand the new platform as Manulife Comvest. Manulife’s existing Senior Credit business and Comvest are believed to be complementary given the different areas of the market they focus upon. Comvest will be eligible for additional consideration of up to $337.5M, contingent on achieving certain performance targets. The agreement provides Manulife the ability to purchase the remaining 25% through a put/call mechanism. The transaction is immediately accretive to core EPS, core ROE and GWAM’s core EBITDA margin and will be funded entirely with cash on hand, resulting in less than a 3-point reduction to Manulife’s LICAT ratio. The transaction is expected to close in Q4, subject to customary closing conditions and approvals.