CPPIB Credit Joins Stone Point and KKR to Invest in MerchCap

CPPIB is investing $50 million in the markets services provider

Private equity firms Stone Point Capital and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co. LLP (NYSE: KKR) have added CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., a subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, as a joint venture partner.

CPPIB Credit also joins Stone Point and KKR as an investor in MerchCap Solutions LLC, a company formed in August to provide market services to sponsor-backed and corporate mid-market companies as well as principal investments. 

CPPIB Credit is contributing $50 million to MerchCap’s business, adding to the $300 million that Stone Point and KKR already contributed. MerchCap has earmarked up to $2 billion in capital for direct investments in middle-market debt transactions and other corporate lending at its discretion.

“This investment is an excellent opportunity to expand CPPIB’s private debt portfolio into the middle market,” says Mark Jenkins, CPPIB’s head of private debt.
CPPIB Credit is a global credit investment program that has invested about $10 billion in capital and holds about $5 billion in credit investments. Canada Pension Plan is an investment management organization that invests funds to pay benefits for 18 million Canadian contributors and beneficiaries.
Based in New York, KKR has $66.3 billion in assets under management. Stone Point, headquartered in Greenwich, Conn., has more than $9 billion in committed capital. The firm makes investments in lending, banking, insurance, asset management and other financial services companies.