November 9, 2020 – The TCW Group, a global asset management firm, today announced that it has entered into a strategic investment agreement with Jefferies and Kennedy Lewis Investment Management to support new issuance of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) on the TCW platform.

Under the strategic investment agreement, Jefferies and Kennedy Lewis will provide up to $160 million in equity to the TCW CLO platform. This agreement will provide equity for the issuance of multiple CLOs over approximately the next two years. Through this investment, Kennedy Lewis and Jefferies will gain access to and share in the growth of TCW’s loan platform.

Drew Sweeney, TCW loan portfolio manager, said, “TCW is excited to partner with both Jefferies and KLIM to help accelerate growth in our CLO platform. Given the level of loan market volatility in recent years, we see ongoing opportunities to take advantage of market dislocation for the benefit of investors.”

Jason Schechter, Head of CLO Origination and Trading at Jefferies, added, “We look forward to partnering with TCW and KLIM on this initiative and believe this investment, coupled with TCW’s historical CLO performance, will firmly cement TCW as a top-tier manager in the CLO space.”

Dik Blewitt, Kennedy Lewis’ Partner, Head of Tactical Opportunities and Co-Head of ESG Investments, said, “We are thrilled to form this strategic partnership with TCW and Jefferies. As a leading CLO manager with whom we have a long-standing relationship, we believe TCW is well positioned to capitalize on attractive and opportunistic entry points presented by current loan market conditions. We believe this partnership will help us deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors.”

TCW is an industry leader in CLO structuring and issuance, and has issued five CLOs since 2017.  TCW also plans to open a CLO warehouse in the near future.  

About The TCW Group
TCW is a leading global asset management firm with a broad range of products across fixed income, equities, emerging markets and alternative investments.  With more than four decades of investment experience, TCW today manages approximately $235 billion in client assets.  Through the MetWest Funds and TCW Funds families, TCW manages one of the largest mutual fund complexes in the U.S.  TCW’s clients include many of the world’s largest corporate and public pension plans, financial institutions, endowments and foundations, as well as financial advisors and high net worth individuals.  For more information, please visit www.tcw.com.

About Kennedy Lewis
Kennedy Lewis (www.klimllc.com) is an opportunistic credit manager founded in 2017 by David K. Chene and Darren L. Richman. It pursues event-driven situations in which a catalyst may unlock value and focuses primarily on corporate and structured credit opportunities in North America and Europe.

About Jefferies Group LLC
Jefferies Group LLC is the largest independent, global, full-service investment banking firm headquartered in the U.S. Focused on serving clients for nearly 60 years, Jefferies is a leader in providing insight, expertise and execution to investors, companies and governments. Our firm provides a full range of investment banking, advisory, sales and trading, research and wealth management services across all products in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Jefferies Group LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF), a diversified financial services company.