Clearlake Capital, the co-owner of Chelsea Football Club, has agreed to acquire a private credit business from France's Natixis.
The US investment group is looking to expand in a fast-growing $1.7 trillion market with the purchase of MV Credit for "several hundred million" dollars, the Financial Times reported.
It will expand assets under management by Clearlake to over $90 billion, up from $2 billion a decade ago.
Asset managers are currently jostling to join the private credit industry, which provides businesses with an alternative source of direct lending to banks.
Clearlake told the FT the credit business is often "the canary in the coal mine" for its private equity business, and that the firm plans to expand the direct lending business in Europe, and potentially into the US.