Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer represents Goal Investment Management in strategic joint venture with Ares

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer's US Private Credit Practice and Securitization Group recently represented Goal Investment Management (Goal), a private credit manager specializing in U.S. consumer finance assets, in the formation of a strategic joint venture (the JV) with private credit funds managed by Ares Management (Ares).

Goal is an investment firm based in San Diego, California focused on unsecured consumer finance. Goal is part of the Goal Investment Group, a family of financial technology companies which serve the consumer finance market. These companies service and manage over $26 billion in consumer assets for originators and financial investors. 

Ares Management is a leading global alternative investment manager managing more than USD $500 billion in credit, real estate, private equity and infrastructure asset classes. 

The JV combines Goal's operational and underwriting experience to acquire and manage consumer loan portfolios with scaled and flexible capital from Ares. The JV will invest in sectors including education finance, home improvement, solar loans, consumer installment loans and other consumer asset classes.

As part of the establishment of the joint venture, an existing private investment fund managed by Goal was restructured, and the anchor investment in that fund by a leading US insurance company repurchased in a secondary transaction, and a pool of consumer loans was acquired by the joint venture.

The HSF Kramer team representing Goal was co-led by David Berg, Structured Finance partner and Head of Private Credit, US; and Yasho Lahiri, Corporate partner and Head of Private Funds, US.  Other members of the team included Tax partner Pamela M. Capps and associate Mariya Khvatskaya; Corporate Special Counsel Eleni Zanias; and Private Funds partner Darina F. Delappe and associates Ilya Kontorovich and Nia Goodman.