New Catalyst Backs Ferghana to Scale Hybrid Capital Platform

New Catalyst Strategic Partners and Ferghana Investment Partners LP have formed a strategic partnership to support the build-out of Ferghana’s newly launched hybrid capital platform, providing significant capital and strategic resources to accelerate growth. 

Ferghana was founded by Hadley Ma, formerly a senior managing director at MGG Investment Group and previously an investment professional at Sixth Street and Oaktree Capital Management. Ma brings nearly two decades of experience across multiple private markets cycles, with a focus on structured and opportunistic capital solutions. 

Ferghana’s strategy centers on providing flexible capital positioned between traditional debt and equity, partnering with founders, entrepreneurs, and family-owned businesses. The platform targets growth capital, succession planning, minority recapitalizations, and management buyouts. 

“We identified a significant opportunity to serve middle-market businesses at key inflection points where traditional capital providers often fall short,” Ma said. 

Jason Howard, founder and managing partner of New Catalyst, said the partnership aligns with the firm’s focus on emerging managers. “At New Catalyst, we seek out Next Generation GPs who serve as thoughtful, value-added partners to the businesses they invest in,” he said. “We’ve built conviction that Hadley and the Ferghana team are well-positioned to do exactly that.” 

New Catalyst was launched in 2024 in strategic partnership with Apollo. Sidley Austin LLP advised New Catalyst, while Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP represented Ferghana.