Olympus Capital Asia

Two Industry Veterans Hired for CIO and Managing Director Positions

Singapore 13 March 2013 - Olympus Capital Asia today announced the launch of Olympus Capital Asia Credit (“OCA Credit”), a structured lending business based in Singapore.  OCA Credit will serve mid-sized corporations in Asia Pacific by offering financing alternatives to customers who are underserved by commercial banks or who seek alternatives to private equity funding.  Olympus Capital Asia III, Olympus Capital Asia's regional private equity fund, has made a significant investment into this new business.

OCA Credit will provide structured loans of US $20-$100 million with two to three year maturities.  It will focus on Southeast Asia, India and Australia, and North Asia on a selective basis. OCA Credit expects to hold and manage the loans through maturity and partner with selected long-term investors on larger-sized deals.

"As part of our longstanding focus on the financial services industry, we have capitalized OCA Credit to meet a shortfall in the market for structured lending to mid-sized corporates, particularly those seeking medium-term capital for growth or acquisitions. Over the past 16 years, Olympus Capital Asia has developed significant regional infrastructure, relationship networks and financial services industry expertise through our private equity investment activities across the region.  This will add value to OCA Credit’s investment team at a time when many international banks are pulling back from structured lending in Asia because of regulatory capital constraints," said Daniel R. Mintz, Founding Managing Director of Olympus Capital Asia. 

Olympus Capital Asia has recruited two structured credit veterans to lead the business, each of whom have worked closely with Olympus Capital Asia in the past, and is helping OCA Credit build out a dedicated, credit-focused team.  Nitish Agarwal has been appointed Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer (CIO), joining the firm from Barclays where he was Managing Director of Global Financing Solutions (Asia). He will continue to be based in Singapore. 

In addition, Gary Stead has joined OCA Credit as a Managing Director.  Mr. Stead was previously a founder and Managing Director with Shearwater Capital, the Australia-focused structured credit fund, and CEO of Fortress Investment Group Australia, where he established Fortress’ Australasian special opportunities investment business in 2004.  Prior to that, he spent 13 years at Merrill Lynch in various senior leadership roles in Australia, Japan and Singapore.

"Nitish has over 15 years of extensive experience in underwriting, structuring and managing structured credit transactions in South Asia,” said Mr. Mintz. “Together with Gary’s deep knowledge of the Australian structured credit market and experience throughout Asia, OCA Credit has the management team in place to address the potential of the middle-market structured lending sector in key Asian countries.”

Mr. Agarwal said: “We believe this is a prime opportunity to help middle market companies achieve their potential despite many banks reducing middle market lending activities. Many of the loans in our pipeline involve business owners who have determined that their growth capital needs are better met through structured, two to three-year credit rather than facing significant dilution from private equity.”

As a regional middle market private equity firm focused on Asia with 16 years of operating history,  Olympus Capital Asia has a team of experienced investment professionals and advisors located in Hong Kong, New Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, New York and now Singapore.  In addition to the OCA Credit platform, the Singapore office will support Olympus Capital Asia’s Southeast Asia private equity activities in its three principal industry verticals: Agribusiness and Resources, Financial and Business Services, and Environmental and Clean Energy.

“Since its founding in 1997, Olympus Capital Asia has developed deep experience in certain industry verticals and established local teams in key Asian countries, putting us in a strong position to source proprietary transactions and support in-depth due diligence.  In that regard, OCA Credit will benefit from the investment experience and operational resources of the wider Olympus Capital Asia private equity platform.  OCA Credit complements our middle-market focused private equity business as we frequently run into opportunities where entrepreneurs are looking for two or three-year duration financing but private equity is not the right offering,” said Gaurav Malik, Managing Director of Olympus Capital Asia.

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About Olympus Capital Asia

Olympus Capital Asia is a leading regional middle market private equity firm focused on Asia. Since its founding in 1997, Olympus Capital Asia has successfully invested approximately US$1.8 billion on behalf of its funds and co-investors in over 40 portfolio companies throughout Asia, including China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.  The firm has a team of experienced investment professionals and advisors located in Hong Kong, New Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, New York and now Singapore. In addition to helping companies grow in their home markets, Olympus Capital Asia seeks to leverage its regional platform to help its portfolio companies drive cross-border expansion.  

 www.olympuscap.com   

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