Distressed & Special Situations
We take problems off your hands.
Every qualified investor, family office and fund sponsor has positions they wish they hadn’t made. Non-performing assets. Legacy holdings that can’t be moved. Illiquid positions that advisers won’t touch. Engagements in this space are bespoke. We structure them mandate by mandate, against the specific position on the table.
The Proposition
When value gets trapped.
Someone has to force a resolution.
Family offices, institutions and high-net-worth individuals accumulate problem assets over time. Distressed positions that are too small for the big funds. Illiquid investments that no broker will bid on. Legacy holdings from ventures that didn't work out. Loans that went bad. Real estate that can't be sold. The embarrassments that sit at the bottom of every portfolio.
We don't pretend these problems don't exist. We buy them. We acquire distressed positions, non-performing assets and legacy investments at prices that reflect the reality of the situation — then apply three decades of restructuring experience to extract whatever value remains.
For the seller, this means closure. A clean balance sheet. Capital freed up for better opportunities. For us, it means acquiring assets at prices where the downside is already priced in.
"Rather than selling something to investors, we offer to take their worst problems off their hands. Everyone has problems. We help them move on."
The Opportunity
From the ashes of bad decisions, something valuable can be recovered. Not every distressed asset is worthless — most are simply mispriced by sellers who need them gone.
Tax-loss disposals
Sell for a dollar.
Crystallise the loss.
Year-end after year-end, advisers tell their clients the same thing: until a position is actually disposed of, the paper loss is just paper. No tax offset. No clean line in the audit. No closure. The problem is finding a counterparty willing to take a worthless or near-worthless position off your books at all.
We are that counterparty. Funds with locked LP interests, single-stock positions written down to zero, broken venture stakes, defaulted notes — we will execute a clean assignment for nominal consideration so the seller can book the loss and move on. The mechanism is documented, arm’s-length and structured to satisfy the tax adviser.
If the position later recovers, we work it. If it doesn’t, the seller still won — they got the loss. Either outcome is fine; the value to us sits in the workout, not the entry price.
Who this fits
- Family offices doing year-end tax-loss harvesting on dead positions.
- Funds carrying single names marked at or near zero with no realistic exit.
- LPs sitting in zombie funds whose GP cannot or will not wind down.
- Founders or angels with side-pocket carry from ventures that didn’t survive.
- Estates needing to close out positions before distribution.
Tax treatment is jurisdiction-specific. We document the transfer; your tax adviser confirms the loss is recognisable in your specific facts.
What We Acquire
Your problems. Our opportunity.
We evaluate and acquire distressed positions across a broad range of asset types and situations. If it has a problem attached to it, we want to hear about it.
Non-Performing Loans
Corporate and personal loans that have defaulted or are significantly behind on payments. We acquire the debt and work the recovery.
Illiquid Holdings
Positions in private companies, pre-IPO shares, fund lock-ups or structured products that cannot be sold through normal channels.
Legacy Legal Claims
Litigation assets, arbitration awards, insurance claims or judgments that have monetary value but require expertise to monetise.
Distressed Real Estate
Properties with legal complications, title issues, occupancy problems or development disputes. We navigate the complexity others avoid.
Failed Ventures
Equity or debt positions in businesses that didn't work out. Remainders of venture portfolios, collapsed SPACs, broken deals.
Restructuring Situations
Companies under formal or informal restructuring where existing holders want an exit. We step in as buyer of last resort.
How engagement is structured
Mandates, not subscriptions.
Every distressed engagement is bespoke. There is no off-the-shelf product for a defaulted loan, a stuck LP interest or a legacy carve-out. We structure each one — assignment, purchase, managed account, dedicated segregated portfolio — against the specific asset, the specific counterparties and the holder’s objective.
The first conversation is diagnostic, not transactional. We look at the position, the cap table, the legal standing and the realistic recovery path. Only then is a structure proposed. Asset classes we regularly work through are listed to the right.
Defaulted credit
Senior loans, mezzanine positions, private notes in workout or enforcement.
Legacy LP interests
Fund positions past their stated term, non-responsive GPs, wind-down conversations.
Illiquid equity
Minority stakes without influence, locked private positions, failed venture carry.
Corporate carve-outs
Non-core subsidiaries, orphaned business lines, restructuring separations.
For Family Offices
Clean up your portfolio.
We make it painless.
Every family office has positions they've written off mentally but never formally resolved. Legacy investments from a previous generation. Bad bets that nobody wants to explain at the next family meeting. Assets that cost more to litigate than they're worth.
Confidential Process
We understand discretion. Every conversation is private. Every acquisition is structured to minimise reputational exposure.
Fast Resolution
We move quickly. Once we agree on terms, the transaction closes in weeks — not the months or years of litigation.
Fair Pricing
We price problems honestly. You won't get par, but you will get certainty, speed and a clean exit that lets you move forward.
Process
How it works
You tell us
Describe the problem asset — what it is, what went wrong, what you've been told about recovery prospects. Everything is confidential.
We evaluate
Our team analyses the asset, the legal position, the capital structure and the realistic recovery scenarios. We do this at our own cost.
We make an offer
If we see value, we make a firm offer to acquire the position. The price reflects the risk, but it's a real bid — not an indication.
You move on
We close quickly. You receive cash. Your balance sheet is clean. We take on the recovery work — that's where our expertise lives.
Risk Considerations
An honest assessment
Distressed investing carries elevated risk. Recovery outcomes are inherently uncertain — legal proceedings may take years, asset values may decline further, and restructuring plans may fail. Even well-analysed positions can produce disappointing results.
Liquidity is extremely limited. Positions may be impossible to exit at reasonable prices, and investors in the distressed strategy should be prepared for extended holding periods. We mitigate these risks through exhaustive due diligence, conservative pricing and careful structural positioning — but some investments will underperform or result in loss.
Have a stuck position?
Describe it. The first conversation is confidential and the diagnostic work is on us.