Neuberger’s Dyal Extends Spree With Iconiq, TowerBrook Deals

(Bloomberg) -- Neuberger Berman’s Dyal Capital Partners has acquired minority stakes in investment firms Iconiq Capital and TowerBrook Capital Partners.

About 10% of TowerBrook and roughly 6% of Iconiq were purchased, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t yet public. The TowerBrook interest was bought by Dyal’s fourth fund, and the Iconiq stake purchase was made across its fourth and fifth funds, the people said. In recent months, Dyal has backed firms including CrossHarbor Capital Partners and Veritas Capital.

“Dyal’s investment into TowerBrook’s management company will provide additional balance sheet capital, enabling TowerBrook to increase its commitment to its funds under management, strengthen the foundations of the firm and further pursue its successful investment strategy,” TowerBrook said in a statement Tuesday.

Neuberger spokesman Alexander Samuelson and an Iconiq representative declined to comment.

Neuberger’s Dyal competes with Blackstone Group Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in the booming business of taking stakes in asset managers to capture a slice of growing fees. Dyal is in the process of raising at least $9 billion for its fifth fund, Bloomberg has reported. The firm’s fourth fund is now fully committed, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

Silicon Valley

Iconiq, founded by former Goldman banker Divesh Makan, made its name as a multifamily office, managing the wealth of such Silicon Valley figures as Facebook Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Twitter Inc.’s Jack Dorsey and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. The firm, which has about $43 billion in assets under management, has backed companies including Snowflake Inc., which went public in September, as well as Robinhood Markets and Epic Games Inc., the creator of Fortnite.

Iconiq, now an institutional asset manager, counts pensions including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board among its fund investors. CPPIB said in August that it had committed $100 million to Iconiq Strategic Partners V, a late-stage venture capital and growth-focused technology fund.

TowerBrook, a private equity firm with just under $14 billion under management that was once part of Soros Fund Management, has differentiated itself from peers in part by becoming a Certified B Corporation, a business intended to benefit all stakeholders and not only shareholders. In 2015, the firm, led by co-founders Neal Moszkowski and Ramez Sousou, sold a 10% stake to an affiliate of Wafra Inc., which invests on behalf of Kuwait.

Earlier this year, Dyal sold six minority stakes to an Australian investment manager, Navigator Global Investments Ltd.

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