Opportunistic Credit
We focus on idiosyncratic real estate opportunities
across the UK and Europe
Zenzic invests in all major real estate sectors, across the capital structure and on a short and longer term basis (12 months to 5 years +). This investment flexibility allows us to tailor our funding to transaction requirements and to capture alpha wherever it arises.
Our team is drawn from leading real estate credit institutions with operational responsibility for over $2bn AUM. We pride ourselves on the quality of our research, the thoroughness of our diligence and the precision and ingenuity of our deal execution.
Investment Approach
Our investment approach is driven by the following core principles that permeate our thinking, our investments and the DNA of our firm.
The Upside of Downside Protection
We believe that entry price, or creating value through the buy, is the most critical factor in limiting risk. Accordingly, investing on a value driven basis – and the margin of safety it creates – is at the centre of our investment process. We seek convexity in all our investments where we can create a day 1 margin of safety through subordinated value while enjoying upside participation.
The Road Less Travelled
We believe that the best investors should be prepared and capable of looking where value is, not where they would like it to be, and the deepest mispricings are rarely the most visible. Accordingly, a key part of our investment process is identifying market inefficiencies caused by cyclical swings, industry disruption, capital scarcity, a specific transaction dynamic or wider dislocations.
Size Matters
Our investment focus is on lower middle-market opportunities, where financing options are more limited, but a wealth of desirable transactions exist. Size can genuinely be a disadvantage in some cases, particularly when it comes to defining your opportunity set. As one legendary opportunistic investor put it: “While it helps to have extraordinary size to be an NBA player, there are a lot of big lugs who aren’t any good and can’t make it in the NBA despite their size. It’s also how skilfully you play!”
Creativity
The herd mentality nearly always prevails in financial markets. It is safer to be in the pack even when the consensus is shown to be wrong. Creativity therefore requires an insistence on independent thought, an acceptance of uncertainty and to act with boldness when an opportunity presents itself.
Structure defines strategy
Special opportunities in private markets are a tabula rasa for investment firms. The ability to structure – defined in our view as the application of legal, financial and commercial knowledge to mitigate risk – is a hallmark of the firm and needs to be bespoke to each transaction. We utilise the full panoply of protections available to both creditors and equity-holders, typically coupled with novel additional structural enhancements to elevate liquidity and/or mitigate jurisdictional risk.
Patience
We invest via permanent capital structures that avoid liquidity pressures that can drive either short-termism or value destruction through necessitated monetisation of positions. Being able to wait and to avoid being either a forced buyer or seller is in our view a material advantage in today’s investment universe.
Investment Focus
Growth
Zenzic takes a strategic equity stake alongside exceptional management teams in differentiated real estate platforms.
- Zenzic provides capital - typically on a preferred equity basis - and gives management support to assist the business to scale and exploit the market opportunity to its full potential.
- Sectors: Selected, based on Zenzic view of relative sector strength and outlook
- Investment structure: JV / Preferred Equity
Loan Term
Ticket Size
Liquidity
Providing solution-based capital for liquidity requirements caused by factors unrelated to risk including:
- Transaction complexity, inc. accelerated transaction timetable, non-vanilla collateral package
- Retrenchment of traditional capital providers
- Strong balance sheet / weaker cash flow scenarios
- Relative nascence of sector; sector agnostic
- Investment Structure: Senior and Junior Secured facilities
Loan Terms
Ticket Size
Di(Stressed)
Opportunistic led transactions in stressed or distressed scenarios including:
- Rescue financing and/or restructuring intensive transactions
- Acquiring assets in distressed or urgent sales context
- Purchase of NPLs on single or portfolio basis
Loan Term
Ticket Size
