Owl Rock and Dyal Capital to Merge and List on NYSE
Owl Rock Capital Group, an alternative asset management firm, and Dyal Capital Partners, a division of Neuberger Berman Group LLC, have entered into a merger agreement with Altimar Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: ATAC) to form Blue Owl Capital Inc.
Owl Rock Capital Group, an alternative asset management firm, and Dyal Capital Partners, a division of Neuberger Berman Group LLC, have entered into a merger agreement with Altimar Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: ATAC) to form Blue Owl Capital Inc., an alternative asset management firm with more than $45 billion in assets under management.
Blue Owl will enter the public market through a business combination with Altimar, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of HPS Investment Partners LLC. The combined entity will focus on direct lending and is expected to have a post-transaction market capitalization of approximately $12.5 billion.
Blue Owl is expected to list on the NYSE under the new ticker “OWL” during the first half of 2021.
The Owl Rock and Dyal businesses will be “autonomous but complementary,” the companies said. Each business will be led by its current management, and its respective investment teams will continue to employ the investment philosophies that they have delivered since inception.
Doug Ostrover, co-founder of Owl Rock, will serve as chief executive officer of Blue Owl. Michael Rees, Dyal founder, and Marc Lipschultz, Owl Rock co-founder, will be co-presidents of Blue Owl.
Blue Owl’s nine-person board of directors will be initially composed of three independent directors, three Owl Rock-appointed directors, two Dyal-appointed directors and one Neuberger Berman-appointed director.
“Blue Owl’s expertise, agility and scale, supported by a substantial permanent capital base, will enable us to offer a holistic platform of capital solutions to private equity firms and privately held businesses,” said Ostrover. “We believe this will broaden and deepen our relationships and provide us with unrivaled access to compelling investment opportunities.”
Owl Rock manages one publicly traded business development company, Owl Rock Capital Corporation. The firm also sponsors multiple non-traded BDCs, including Owl Rock Capital Corporation II, Owl Rock Capital Corporation III, Owl Rock Technology Finance Corp. and Owl Rock Core Income Corp.
Craig Packer, an Owl Rock co-founder, will continue as CEO of the Owl Rock BDCs, and will not undertake any change to their investment strategies, team or process from this transaction, the company said.
The closing of the transaction will result in a change of control of the registered investment adviser to each of the Owl Rock BDCs. As a result, each BDC’s shareholders will be asked to approve an amended investment advisory agreement between the respective Owl Rock BDC and the applicable Owl Rock adviser. All material terms will remain unchanged from the Owl Rock BDCs’ current investment advisory agreements, the company said.
Owl Rock Capital Group, together with its subsidiaries, is a New York-based direct lending platform with approximately $23.7 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2020. Owl Rock’s platform consists of multiple investment funds and products including business development companies.
Dyal Capital seeks to acquire minority equity stakes in and provide financing to established alternative asset managers. Dyal has completed more than 50 equity and debt transactions and manages approximately $23.3 billion in total capital commitments as of November 30, 2020.
