New Jersey Buys Stake In AnaCap Financial

The New Jersey State Investment Council has taken its first minority stake in the management company of a private equity firm—a 5 percent ownership stake in AnaCap Financial Partners, a London-based firm that acquires mid-sized European financial services firms.

“Many of the businesses targeted by AnaCap are characterized by underlying assets with predictable and/or annuity-like cash flows,” according to a New Jersey Division of Investment document.

The AnaCap deal may be the first of many to come for New Jersey, which manages $78 billion in assets. The LP plans to take ownership stakes in “a couple” of private equity firms within the next year, said William Clark, director of New Jersey’s Division of Investment, at a conference early last month. Clark cited the prospect of impressive investment returns and the ability to closely observe the workings of private equity managers as reasons why.

New Jersey did not have a long history with AnaCap Financial before buying an ownership stake. In 2006, the LP made a commitment to AnaCap’s €300 million ($366 million) debut fund through a separate account mandate focused on small to mid-market European funds and managed by Goldman Sachs. Last month, in addition to taking the equity stake, New Jersey directly committed €106 million ($166 million) to AnaCap Financial Partners Fund II LP, the firm’s sophomore vehicle.

AnaCap’s portfolio includes Apex Credit Management Ltd., a British debt collection and recovery company; U.K.-based securities broker Conduit Capital Markets; and Credoma, a residential mortgage provider based in the Czech Republic. The firm owns five companies in all.

Two-year-old AnaCap has 10 investment professionals on staff.