CNO Financial Group to Purchase Minority Stake in Janus Henderson’s VPC  

CNO Financial Group has agreed to acquire a minority stake in Janus Henderson Group’s Victory Park Capital, a private credit manager, nearly a year after Janus Henderson acquired VPC. 

Per the agreement, CNO Financial Group will provide about $600 million in capital commitments to support VPC’s existing and new investment strategies, the firm said. 

Chicago-based Victory Park Capital, founded in 2007, provides private credit solutions to established and start-up businesses. VPC was acquired by Janus Henderson last October, which expanded Janus Henderson’s private credit and institutional capabilities.  

Following the completion of the deal, which will close on October 1, Janus Henderson Group will remain as the majority owner of VPC. 

“Our investment alongside Janus Henderson in VPC underscores CNO’s strategic focus on collaborating with partners that complement our investment capabilities,” Gary Bhojwani, CEO of CNO Financial Group, said. “This partnership allows us to benefit from VPC’s unique and differentiated asset-backed credit expertise both as an investor and strategic partner while supporting our ROE objectives.” 

This deal comes after Janus Henderson partnered with Guardian Life Insurance Company of America in July to manage its $45 billion investment-grade public fixed income assets. 

As part of Janus Henderson’s partnership with Guardian, Janus Henderson received about $400 million in seed capital from Guardian, which goes towards the firm’s securitized credit and high quality active fixed income products. 

CNO Financial Group, a life and health insurer and financial services provider, has about $37 billion in assets and manages 3.2 million policies, as of June 30, Janus Henderson said. 

Janus Henderson manages $457 billion in assets, which is an increase from $373 billion, as reported in the first quarter.