Eldridge Industries said Thursday it is planning to launch Eldridge, an asset management and insurance holding company, with about $74 billion in assets under management.
Eldridge will be managed by a newly formed executive committee, to be chaired by Eldridge Industries chairman and chief executive Todd Boehly. He will be involved in the strategic oversight and partnerships within the company.
The asset management company will consist of two divisions, namely, Eldridge Capital Management and Eldridge Wealth Solutions.
“Eldridge will bring together decades of collective experience, world-class structuring, proprietary origination expertise, and differentiated approaches to capitalize on what we believe to be the most attractive opportunity set in quite some time, and we are excited to enter this next chapter of growth,” Boehly said.
Eldridge Capital Management will focus on four investment strategies – Corporate Credit, to be led by Jeffrey Forlizzi and Nicholas Sandler; GP Solutions, to be led by David Lee; Real Estate Credit, to be led by John Cole, and Sports, Media and Entertainment, to be led by Jeff Wilbur.
Eldridge Industries co-founder and President Tony Minella will serve as chief executive of Eldridge Capital Management, while Todd Gilbert and Nicholas Sandler will serve as co-presidents.
Meanwhile, Eldridge Wealth Solutions will be comprised of Security Benefit and Everly Life, Eldridge’s insurance subsidiaries. Eldridge Wealth Solutions, which will be an insurance and retirement services platform, will be led by Doug Wolff as chief executive and Joseph Wittrock as chief investment officer.
The transaction is expected to close in January. Eldridge is expected to have offices in various cities around the world, including in New York, Chicago, London and Abu Dhabi.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Boehly said that Eldridge is the result of the consolidation of the holding company’s asset management activity.
“Because of the themes and the trends that are going on and the value of scale, we’re now consolidating all of that and putting it in under one holding company,” Boehly said.
When asked if he was looking to sell a stake in the asset manager, Boehly said that the company is “trying to be strategic” in terms of the potential of such sales in the region. “We’re looking for partners who want to grow with us,” he said.
Boehly also emphasized the potential of Abu Dhabi to be an important place in terms of opportunities over the next several decades, saying that it is the reason why Eldridge is putting up its first office in the region there.
He also said that there are plans to continue developing in the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia, which has opportunities in the sports, entertainment, infrastructure and media sectors.
“We believe the region is extremely important,” Boehly said. “We have plans to continue to develop our office in the region and have a much bigger presence onsite.”
Looking ahead to next year, Boehly said that they are “very bullish” on M&A, as well as in the activity of capital moving around.
