Canyon Partners Unloads 20% Stake to Dai-ichi Life

Canyon Partners, a $24 billion hedge fund manager based in Dallas, announced that Dai-ichi Life Holdings, a Japanese insurance company, has agreed to acquire a 19.9%, or $225 million, minority stake in a newly formed holding company that will oversee Canyon Partners as it seeks to expand its alternative assets business.

Dai-ichi is also allocating at least $1.3 billion in LP capital to Canyon’s commingled funds. The agreement allows the Tokyo-based group to buy up to 51% of Canyon’s stock interest in 2027 before taking full ownership in 2029.

Canyon’s current management team will continue to lead the company, with co-founders and co-CEOs Josh Friedman and Mitch Julis committing to stay on for at least five years.

The deal is to be finalized between mid-May and June after going through regulatory processes. Dai-ichi Life will appoint two directors to the board of the new holding company, which will be an equity method affiliate.

“After over three decades in a rapidly evolving alternative investment landscape, Canyon was one of the few remaining independent credit firms,” Friedman and Julis said. “It was important to us to maintain that independence until we could identify a strategic partner that could bring skills, capital, and competitive edges of its own to further enhance Canyon’s position for the next several decades.”

Canyon Partners, established in 1990, is active across public and private corporate credit, structured credit, and direct lending and investing in real estate.

Dai-ichi is Japan‘s largest publicly traded life insurance group and third largest overall. The group has set a goal of attaining a market capitalization of 6 trillion yen ($40.5 billion) by the end of March 2027 as it seeking a bigger presence in asset management.