ORIGINATOR PROFILE
Arena Investors LP
Arena Investors, LP (“Arena”) is a global investment firm and merchant capital provider that seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted and uncorrelated returns by originating a highly diversified portfolio of investments with borrowers and other counterparties for whom conventional sources of capital are scarce. Arena's mandate is global and also unconstrained in terms of asset class and industry. Based in New York City, Arena was formed in partnership with The Westaim Corporation, a publicly traded Canadian holding company focused on the financial services industry. See www.arenaco.com for more information.
Arena provides a wide range of debt capital solutions for small and medium-sized private companies. Investments are typically below $50M. Since its founding in 2015, Arena has originated over $1.0Bn in direct loans to middle market businesses across its six strategies: corporate private credit, real estate private credit, commercial & industrial assets, asset-based loans, real estate finance, structured finance, and consumer loans. Arena also has its own permanent capital which it invests alongside clients. Arena is led by a team of 10 officers and has 43 employees including an asset management group.
Deal Sourcing & Underwriting
Arena sources potential transactions through its proprietary networks developed over years of investing in and managing assets across its private credit strategies. Deal sourcing channels include capital market relationships, investors, joint venture servicing partners, intermediaries and other individuals with whom Arena has worked with over decades.
Arena’s underwriting process consists of six stages. The first stage consists of identifying potential transactions, followed by stage two, a two-to-four-week screening process, where Arena ascertains whether the deal merits further review in consultation with the Chief Investment Officer (“CIO”) and the asset management team. The third stage is due diligence, where upon the approval of the CIO in consultation with the Chief Operating Officer, the transaction is thoroughly analyzed and structured. The fourth stage is the investment committee, where the final proposal is presented to the CIO, who approves or declines the transaction. The fifth stage consists of closing and document finalization. After closing, the transaction is monitored on an ongoing basis with regular reporting until the investment is repaid in full. Arena’s process results in around 10% of the deals screened by Arena moving to diligence and less than 1% of total deals being funded.
Management
Daniel Zwirn
CEO & Chief Investment OfficerMr. Zwirn began his investing career in 1995. He founded and built D.B. Zwirn & Co., one of the largest independent firms in the alternative credit space. He has participated in over 2,500 illiquid investments, accounting for over $10 billion. Mr. Zwirn founded Arena in 2015, to continue opportunistically investing across the entire credit spectrum. He is an active supporter of non-profit causes that drive change. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution, the Board of Trustees of Barnard College of Columbia University and the Executive Board of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology. Dan has previously served on the Leadership Council of the Robin Hood Foundation and the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Theater. Mr. Zwirn received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in 1998, a B.S. in Economics in Accounting, Finance and Corporate Control (self-designed), cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1993, and a B.A.S. in Computer Science, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering in 1993.
Lawrence Cutler
Chief Operating OfficerLawrence has over 20 years of operational and compliance experience. He was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of D.B. Zwirn & Co. from 2005 to 2010. From 2003 to 2005, he was Principal and Chief Compliance Officer of Pequot Capital Management. As of April 2005, Lawrence was also the President and Chief Compliance Officer at Pequot Financial Services. From 2001 to 2003, he was Executive Director, Chief Compliance Officer and Risk Control Officer for UBS Global Asset Management. From 1998 to 2001, Lawrence was Vice President and Director of Compliance for INVESCO Institutional Group and their affiliated entities. From 2000 to 2001, he was an Associate Partner at AMVESCAP, the parent company of INVESCO. From 1996 to 1998, he was Principal Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York. In 1996, he was Senior Vice President, Director of Compliance and Corporate Secretary for HSBC Asset Management Americas. Prior to that, he was Senior Securities Compliance Examiner at the Northeast Regional Office of the SEC from 1992 to 1996. Lawrence received a BS in Marketing and Finance, cum laude, from Long Island University in 1992.
Greg White
Director, Resource FinanceGreg joined Arena in 2015 to lead the firm’s energy finance strategy. Prior to Arena, Greg spent over 11 years executing debt, equity, derivative-linked and other energy-related transactions, include direct asset acquisitions and drilling joint ventures, most of which he completed as a principal investor or lead lender in the energy, natural resources, and industrial sectors. Mr. White received his bachelors from Harding University.
2 Represents an average net realized internal rate of return (IRR) with respect to all matured investments in your portfolio, utilizing the effective dates and amounts to and from the investments and net of management fees and all other expenses charged to the investments. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and should not be relied upon as the basis for making an investment decision. All securities involve risk and may result in significant losses, including the loss of principal invested.[read more]