NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On December 22, 2017, GSO Diamond Portfolio Fund LP (the “Fund”), a newly formed $950 million investment fund sponsored by GSO Capital Partners LP (“GSO”), the global credit investment platform of Blackstone, successfully closed on the previously announced acquisition of approximately $2.4 billion in corporate loans and other credit investments from NewStar Financial, Inc. (“NewStar”). Immediately following the sale of these assets to the Fund, NewStar was acquired by First Eagle Investment Management (“First Eagle”), a privately owned investment firm with $116 billion in assets under management.
GSO believes this investment represents an attractive and unique opportunity for the Fund’s investors to gain access to GSO’s large and growing loan platform via a diversified and funded portfolio of primarily high-quality, first-lien loans to private equity sponsor backed companies. GSO has engaged First Eagle and the former NewStar team to assist in servicing the assets acquired by the Fund.
Bennett Goodman, Senior Managing Director and Co-Founder of GSO added: “This transaction demonstrates GSO’s capabilities to develop creative solutions, in large scale, for complicated situations involving financings for mergers and acquisitions. This new Fund is an excellent complement to our direct lending strategy and we look forward to working with First Eagle and the former NewStar team going forward.”
About GSO
GSO Capital Partners LP is the global credit investment platform of Blackstone. With approximately $99 billion of assets under management, GSO is one of the largest alternative managers in the world focused on the leveraged-finance, or non-investment grade related, marketplace. GSO seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns in its business by investing in a broad array of strategies including mezzanine debt, distressed investing, leveraged loans and other special-situation strategies. Its funds are major providers of credit for small and middle-market companies and they also advance rescue financing to help distressed companies.
