Funding Flexibility

Exploring the Private Equity NAV Lending Opportunity for Asset Owners

August 28, 2024
2 min read

What You Need to Know

Publications on private equity net asset value (NAV) loans have tended to focus on the perspective of private equity sponsors and limited partners. Here, we examine NAV lending from the perspective of asset owners, particularly insurance investors: What is NAV lending, why is it appealing, and what are the considerations in accessing the opportunity?

Authors
Dupe Adeyemo| Managing Director and Head—AB NAV Lending
Sara Casey| Director—AB NAV Lending
Patrick Fear, CPA| Senior Managing Director and Founding Member—AB Private Credit Investors; Chair—AB NAV Lending
Gary Zhu, CFA| Deputy Chief Investment Officer—Insurance

Executive Summary

Since its beginnings in the early 2000s, the market for NAV lending has continued to grow and develop as a source of flexible capital for private equity sponsors and their funds. As funds advance through their investment cycles, loans backed by their underlying investments can supplement up-front capital commitments from limited partner investors.

We believe NAV loans represent a compelling proposition for many stakeholders:

  • Private equity sponsors have access to a nondilutive alternative capital source with multiple uses in both offensive and defensive applications.
  • Limited partners in private equity funds benefit when NAV loans are used to unlock value at the underlying portfolio companies.
  • Discerning NAV lenders with strong sourcing networks can underwrite and execute loans with attractive return potential and robust covenants.
  • Asset owners, including insurance investors, can add a complementary investment-grade asset class to their private market allocations.

What’s in a Name? Defining Private Equity NAV Lending

Before delving deeper into an assessment of the opportunity in NAV lending, it’s important to set out some basic terminology. For the purpose of this paper, we’ll focus on loans provided to individual private equity funds against the value of the funds’ investments in private equity (Display 1). In doing so, we’ll leave aside NAV lending beyond this segment, such as NAV loans collateralized by infrastructure, real estate, portfolios of interests in private equity funds or credit assets.

How NAV Lending Works
Illustrative NAV Loan Structure
How NAV Lending Works

Illustrative example only. Does not represent an actual investment.
Source: AllianceBernstein (AB)

The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations, and do not necessarily represent the views of all AB portfolio-management teams and are subject to change over time.


About the Authors

Dupe Adeyemo is a Managing Director and Head of AB NAV Lending, where he is involved in establishing the net asset value (NAV) lending strategy, including deal sourcing, structuring, underwriting, execution and portfolio management. Prior to joining AB in 2023, he was a managing director at Barclays Bank, where he focused on providing capital and liquidity to private equity funds. Adeyemo began his career at Barclays in 2007, where he was responsible for providing financing secured by alternative investments and the creation of quantitative investment strategies. He holds a BS in civil engineering from Cornell University. Location: Austin

Sara Casey is a Director with AB Private Credit Investors, where she is one of the initial senior team members involved in the development of the NAV Lending strategy. Her responsibilities include deal sourcing, structuring, underwriting and execution, and portfolio management. Prior to joining AB in 2023, Casey was a principal at Hark Capital, where she sourced and executed NAV loans. Prior to Hark Capital, she was an associate at Wells Fargo Securities. Casey is a member of the Fund Finance Association’s NextGen Committee and was the Fund Finance Association’s 2023 NextGen Member of the Year. She holds a BS in finance from Providence College. Location: New York

Patrick Fear joined AB in 2014 and is a Senior Managing Director and founding AB Private Credit Investors team member, the Head of Digital Infrastructure and Services, and a member of the investment committee of AB Private Credit Investors. He is also responsible for generalist sponsor originations across a variety of industries. Fear was previously a director with Barclays Private Credit Partners, where he held a similar role. Prior to that, he was a director with CapitalSource in the US and Europe. Fear was a founding member of the senior management team of CapitalSource Europe, responsible for sourcing, executing and monitoring a $500 million portfolio of middle market mezzanine and other leveraged loans in a variety of industries. Before that, he was a vice president focused on M&A advisory at Robert W. Baird in London and Chicago. Fear began his career in transaction services at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds a BBA in accounting from the University of Notre Dame and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Location: Austin

Gary Zhu is a Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Insurance, where he is responsible for portfolio performance, strategic positioning and customized investment solutions for AB’s Insurance platform. Zhu joined AB in 2020 as the global head of Multi-Sector Insurance on the Fixed Income team, primarily focusing on developing and implementing multi-sector income portfolio strategies. In 2021, he was named director of Insurance Portfolio Management, where he led AB Fixed Income’s insurance business. Under Zhu’s leadership, the Multi-Sector Insurance team was named Investment Team of the Year in 2022 and 2023 by Insurance Asset Risk. He is also a portfolio manager in the US Investment Grade Credit and Sustainable Thematic Credit teams. Prior to AB, Zhu was a senior publishing research analyst and the head of cross-sector research at Wells Fargo Securities. He ranked first for cross-asset strategy in the 2019 Institutional Investor survey and earned the title of Best Cross-Asset Analyst in Global Fixed Income Strategy. Before joining Wells Fargo, Zhu was a senior securitized assets trader and portfolio manager at Genworth, where he managed ~$10 billion of fixed-income investments. Prior to his portfolio-management role, Zhu helped manage Genworth’s $70 billion general account, with a focus on US and European banking exposures during the 2008 financial crisis, and held various roles across the company. He holds a BS (summa cum laude) in finance and economics from Virginia Commonwealth University and an executive MBA (with Dean’s Honors) from Columbia Business School. Zhu is a CFA charterholder and holds the Fellow, Life Management Institute designation. Location: New York