Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investment department of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’) has made a US$150 million equity commitment to help launch NXT Capital, LLC, a privately held commercial finance company based in Chicago.
NXT targets senior financing opportunities of up to $100 million—with typical holds ranging from $10 million to $30 million—through its corporate finance and real estate finance groups.
Since the firm started in April, it has provided financing commitments in excess of $340 million spread over 17 separate transactions.
Led by former corporate leaders of Merrill Lynch Capital, NXT has also received private equity funds managed by Stone Point Capital LLC, along with funds from the founding management team. Teachers’ will now have a representative on the NXT board of managers.
“We have been considering opportunities in the commercial finance sector for some time and are pleased to be working with Stone Point to back a proven management team,” said Neil Petroff, Teachers’ executive vice-president, investments, in a statement. “With attractive market fundamentals, NXT is well positioned to establish a solid loan portfolio and build a strong lending and fee-generating franchise.”
The investment from Teachers brings NXT’s total equity capitalization to more than $450 million, NXT’s chairman and CEO Robert Radway said. It allows the company to pursue about $1 billion in new financing commitments.
