Azimut Alternative Capital Partners
We partner with alternative asset management businesses and
help them achieve their greatest potential
About Us
Who we are
- Majority owned by Azimut Group, one of Europe’s leading asset managers, Azimut Alternative Capital Partners (“AACP”) partners with private market-focused alternative asset managers and helps them achieve their greatest potential.
- New York-based with a global mandate to build a next generation, diversified, multi-affiliate investment firm by acquiring minority stakes in alternative asset managers and providing strategic value-added services.
- Led by industry veteran Jeff Brown, the AACP team has significant experience in investing, fundraising, due diligence and operations within the alternative asset management space.
Our Business Segments
- Acquires stakes in middle-market private markets businesses
- Acquires stakes in first time team/first time fund businesses in exchange for distribution
- Acquires stakes in emerging managers in exchange for strategy capital and working capital
- Advises on a broad range of alternatives funds exclusively for Azimut's global distribution system
What do we look for in an Affiliate?
- Private markets (non-CUSIP strategies) investment managers across credit, equity, venture, real estate, infrastructure, insurance, and “other”
- Target 20% bottom-line management company/GP stakes with strong alignment of incentives between AACP and Affiliate
- Visible and actionable growth plan and use of capital to enhance AUM & EBITDA
- Proven success in raising and deploying capital
- Responsible client-centric values
- Excellent investment culture
What makes us Different?
- Global wealth and asset management presence in 17 countries
- Access to Azimut Group’s diversifying international distribution and relationships - True permanent capital
- Our corporate parent empowers us to drive performance over long horizons - Creative capital solutions
- Growth capital; partner/founder transitions; capital structure clean-ups; seeder take-outs; GP co-investment capital funding
- Flexible on primary/secondary mix; no “one size fits all” approach - Trusted long-term growth partner
- Operating management heritage – more than just a financial acquirer
- Distribution power and product intelligence
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gabriele Blei
Director, AACP CEO, Azimut
Jeff Brown
CEO, AACP
Massimo Guiati
Director, AACP Global Head of Distribution, Azimut
Giorgio Medda
Director, AACP Global Head of Asset Management, Azimut
Vittorio Pracca
Chairman, AACP Head of Investor Relations, Azimut
TEAM
Robert Adler, CFA
COO/CFO
Robert Adler is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of AACP. In addition to overseeing finance, administration and operations, he is responsible for establishing and managing processes to ensure that each affiliate receives the “benefit of the bargain” from AACP and Azimut globally.
Mr. Adler has over two decades of leadership positions at financial services firms including Bridgewater Associates, Strategic Value Partners, Bear Stearns Asset Management and Goldman Sachs. He has also held senior management positions at cryptocurrency startups including Tradehill, Sator Square Partners and Kraken. Mr. Adler spent the first eight years of his Wall Street career as a Securities Analyst covering pollution control and small cap stocks at Goldman Sachs.
Mr. Adler holds an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Jeff Brown
CEO, AACP
Jeff Brown serves as the Chief Executive Officer of AACP and has over two decades of investing, due diligence and operating management experience in the alternative asset management industry.
Prior to joining AACP, Mr. Brown was a Managing Director at Dyal Capital Partners, joining in its early days of formation. Mr. Brown founded and for five years led Dyal’s Business Services Platform. Prior to Dyal, Mr. Brown was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns Asset Management (“BSAM”). During his tenure at BSAM, he was the Chief Development Officer and led the strategic expansion of the Firm from $23bn in AUM to $55bn in AUM over a four-year time period. Mr. Brown also served as Chief Marketing Officer and Global Head of Institutional Sales at BSAM. Prior to joining BSAM, he held senior roles at Morgan Stanley Asset Management.
Mr. Brown holds a JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School, an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and a BA from the University of Wisconsin.
Judith A. Furgiuele, CFA
Global Head of Consultant Relationships
Judith Furgiuele is the Global Head of Consultant Relationships at AACP. In this role, she leads distribution with the most relevant and influential institutional investment consultants that advise investors on private markets allocations.
Ms. Furgiuele has over two decades of experience in real estate investment sales, portfolio management, fixed income trading and risk management. Prior to joining AACP, she held senior positions at Bear Stearns Asset Management and ABN AMRO Bank, and has experience with institutional investors, family offices, and high net worth individuals.
Ms. Furgiuele holds a BS in Statistics from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA in Finance from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. She is a CFA Charterholder, a member of CFA Society New York, the Private Equity Women Investor Network, and the Real Estate Board of New York.
Joe Hill
Global Head of Institutional Relationships
Joe Hill is the Global Head of Institutional Relationships at AACP. In this role, he advises Affiliates on the most important and impactful institutional investor relationships around the world
Prior to this role, Mr. Hill was a Managing Principal, Vice-Chairman, member of the Executive Committee and Head of Marketing and Investor Relations at Halcyon/Bardin Hill Capital Partners. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director of Credit Suisse First Boston in the Private Funds Group. Mr. Hill and his team raised capital for firms such as Bridgewater Associates, Moore Capital, Graham Capital and Chilton Capital. Previously, Mr. Hill was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley where he held several senior leadership positions.
Mr. Hill graduated from the University of Texas with a BBA in Accounting and from the University of Chicago with an MBA concentrating in Marketing and Finance.
Bryan Kelley
Senior Vice PresidentInstitutional Relationships
Bryan Kelley is a Senior Vice President, Institutional Relationships at AACP. In this role, he provides Affiliates with his capital raising and advisory perspective based on 25 years of experience as a pension consultant, placement agent and business development professional.
Prior to this, Mr. Kelley owned and managed NovaFund Advisors from 2004 to 2018 where he focused on the distribution of private funds and separate accounts to US institutional investors including public and corporate pensions, consultants, insurance companies, endowments, foundations and family offices. He provided similar services to clients during his tenures with MVision, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank. Prior, Mr. Kelley spent 5 years with Wilshire Associates as a pension consultant where he both raised capital for their fund of funds business and recommended private fund managers to their client base.
Mr. Kelley graduated from Furman University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1989 and an MBA from The Katz Graduate School of Business at The University of Pittsburgh with a focus on Accounting and Finance in 1994.
Linh Nguyen
Associate
Linh Nguyen is an Associate at AACP. Ms. Nguyen supports all aspects of the Firm’s investment process, including transaction structuring, analysis, and monitoring, and the Firm’s distribution process, including liaising with Azimut’s global sales force across 17 countries.
Prior to joining AACP, Ms. Nguyen was an Analyst at Pluris Valuation Advisors where she focused on the valuation and analysis of general partnership and limited partnership interests in private equity and private credit funds.
Ms. Nguyen holds a BS in Finance and Statistics from NYU Stern School of Business.
Vittorio Pracca
Chairman, AACP Head of Investor Relations, Azimut
Vittorio Pracca is currently the Chairman and Deputy CEO of AACP and is responsible for Investor Relations at the Group level. Mr. Pracca has been with Azimut since 2012 and serves on the boards of Azimut Enterprises and Azimut Libera Impresa SGR, two Italy-based vehicles dedicated to investments in the Private Markets space.
Prior to joining Azimut, Mr. Pracca was a Senior Associate at Société Générale in the Equity Capital Markets and Corporate Finance groups and spent five years at Citigroup (in London and Milan) in the Investment Banking and M&A groups.
Mr. Pracca holds a Financial & Business Economics degree from Royal Holloway, University of London, and an MBA from SDA Bocconi / NYU Stern School of Business
Weston Wilkinson
Senior Vice President Head of Affiliate Investments
Weston Wilkinson is the Head of Affiliate Investments and a Senior Vice President at AACP. In this role, Mr. Wilkinson leads all aspects of the Firm’s principal investment activities, including sourcing, negotiation, due diligence and structuring, as well as underlying monitoring and strategic growth initiatives for affiliate investments. He serves on the board of Kennedy Lewis Investment Management LLC.
Prior to joining AACP, Mr. Wilkinson was a Director at Perella Weinberg Partners, where he was a senior member of the Firm’s asset management business. Previously, Mr. Wilkinson was an Associate at Berkshire Global Advisors, where he advised financial services clients on mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Wilkinson holds a BA from the University of London, studying at the London School of Economics and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
AFFILIATES
Kennedy Lewis Investment Management
Founded in 2017 by David Chene and Darren Richman, Kennedy Lewis is an opportunistic credit investment management firm with approximately $7.0 billion under management across private funds and CLOs.
Kennedy Lewis’ private funds primarily focus on middle-market companies facing disruption, whether it be cyclical, secular or regulatory related. The firm also partners with high growth companies that are causing disruption, providing structured capital solutions to fit their needs.
HighPost Capital
Founded in 2019 by veteran private equity and marketing executives David Moross and Mark Bezos, HighPost Capital, LLC (“HighPost”) is a private investment firm focused on the global consumer sector.
HighPost seeks to leverage the respective skills, network and experience of its principals to create long-term value for its portfolio companies. HighPost focuses on opportunities with family-controlled and entrepreneur-led companies that share a differentiated approach to value creation.
Pathlight Capital LP
Pathlight Capital is a private credit investment manager dedicated to meeting the needs of companies that operate across a broad range of industries by providing asset-based loans secured on a first or second lien basis against tangible and intangible assets.
Pathlight provides creative financing solutions to allow management teams to access incremental liquidity for the purposes of funding working capital, debt refinancings, growth, acquisitions, dividends and turnaround strategies.
About Azimut Group
Azimut, established in 1989, is one of Europe’s largest independent asset managers with over $ 92 billion in Total AUM. The parent company Azimut Holding has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 2004 (ticker AZM-IM) and is part of the FTSE MIB Index.
The Group is present in 17 countries with over 3,000 professionals around the world, including ca. 150 Portfolio Managers & Analysts as well as a proprietary network of over 2,500 Financial Advisors serving mostly the retail and HNW client base. It operates in three key segments including public markets, private markets as well as emerging markets, and currently has its main offices in Milan, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, Indianapolis, Istanbul, Lugano, Luxembourg, Mexico City, Miami, Monte Carlo, New York, Santiago, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Taipei.
The Group has an impeccable track record of doubling it’s AUM every 5 years since the IPO, growing its Assets with a CAGR of +14%. The shareholder structure includes over 2,000 managers, employees and financial advisors working for the Group globally, bound together by a strong and long term shareholders agreement that controls ca. 23% of the Company, with the remaining being free float.
Azimut Group: history & key corporate milestones
Azimut Group: a truly Global company
NEWS
European alternative asset managers seek private equity funding
December 22, 2021
European alternative asset managers are increasingly looking to sell a stake in their businesses to private equity firms, as founders of businesses are taking a step back and growing fund sizes push managers to search for liquidity. Jeff Brown, chief executive officer of Azimut Alternative Capital Partners (AACP), is already seeing more opportunities coming out of Europe.
Azimut Alternative Capital Partners strikes its third deal in the US private markets by acquiring an equity interest in Pathlight Capital
July 26, 2021
Total Private Markets AuM managed by AACP’s affiliates reaches in excess of $ 8 billion.
This Asset Manager Is Turning the GP Stakes Model on Its Head
May 19, 2021
In an increasingly crowded market, European manager Azimut is using permanent capital and the promise of retail distribution to attract and align itself with alternatives firms.
Global Independent Asset Manager Azimut Makes Strategic Investment in Sanctuary Wealth
November 2, 2020
Investment provides long-term capital to fuel Sanctuary's strategic growth initiatives.
Azimut sees GP stakes bolt-ons as potent growth tool for mid-market firms
October 28, 2020
CEO Jeffry Brown, a former Dyal Capital Partners principal, expects to see bolt-on strategies in use over the next five years, especially as mid-market firms increasingly transact with GP stakes funds.
Azimut, One of the Largest Independent Asset Managers in Europe, Completes Phase One of the Team Buildout of Azimut Alternative Capital Partners in New York
September 1, 2020
Azimut, one of Europe's largest independent asset managers with ca. $ 60 billion in AUM, today announced that it had completed its first round of new hires for Azimut Alternative Capital Partners, LLC, "AACP", its New York-based multi-affiliate business focused on investing in alternative managers specializing in the private markets space, including private equity, private credit, infrastructure and real estate.
Azimut strengthens its presence in the US RIA space by partnering with Genesis Investment Advisors
August 31, 2020
The partnership increases Azimut’s presence in the Latam-focused RIA space with a strong and dedicated financial advisory and distribution partner, and further confirms the Group’s commitment in this segment after the greenfield initiative with AZ Apice in Miami in 2016.
Azimut Alternative Capital Partners strikes its first deal in the US private markets by acquiring an equity interest in Kennedy Lewis
July 29, 2020
Azimut Group via its US subsidiary Azimut Alternative Capital Partners, LLC ("AACP"), entered into agreements to acquire a minority equity interest in Kennedy Lewis Investment Management LLC and certain affiliated entities ("Kennedy Lewis"), a leading opportunistic private credit investment management firm headquartered in New York City.