International law firm, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, is advising shareholders of Harbourmaster Capital on its sale to GSO Capital Partners, the global credit platform of The Blackstone Group. Established in March 2000, Harbourmaster Capital manages and advises on approximately €8.0 billion of senior secured loans and infrastructure debt. GSO is one of the largest global credit-oriented alternative managers and an active participant in the leveraged finance market.

As a result of the transaction, Harbourmaster Capital will form a combined platform with GSO’s existing European leveraged loan business and will have combined assets under management of €11.5 billion ($15.5 billion). The transaction is due to close in early 2012 and is subject to regulatory and certain other approvals.

Weil has a longstanding relationship with Harbourmaster, having advised the company on numerous structured finance deals since its inception in 2000. The Weil team was led by Structured Finance partner Jacky Kelly and Corporate partner Mike Francies, assisted by Corporate associates Rupert Wall, Jeremy Smith, and Tim Goldfarb.

The combination of the European platforms of Harbourmaster and GSO will create one of the largest alternative managers in Europe, which will be well positioned to capitalise on the increasing number of investment opportunities in the European corporate credit markets. This transaction is part of a continuing trend in industry consolidation amongst loan fund managers, including Apollo Global Management’s acquisition of Gulf Stream Asset Management in July this year, Rothschild’s acquisition of Elgin Capital in August, and Ares agreement to buy Indicus Advisors, also in August this year.