Värde Partners

Värde Partners (Värde) is an American alternative investment management firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm focuses on investments in credit-related assets and distressed securities although it has also expanded into other areas of alternative investments including real estate.

Outside the United States, the firm has offices in Luxembourg, London, Mumbai and Singapore.

Background
Värde Partners was founded in 1993 by three former Cargill financial executives, George Hicks, Marcia Page and Greg McMillan. Värde gets its name from the Swedish word for value.

Värde originally started as a hedge fund that focused on distressed securities and grew slowly in its early years before expanding into other alternative investments. It has been viewed as a much lower profile firm compared to others such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, The Carlyle Group and Apollo Global Management, and Hicks has stated the firm's intention is to "do a good job and be a great place to work". He has also stated that the firm intends to grow and has no intention of becoming a family office. At the end of 2020, Värde had around 500 clients which were institutional investors.

In 2015, Värde moved its headquarters from Bloomington to the AT&T tower in Minneapolis. The move was driven by the firm's younger employees wanting to work downtown.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Värde portfolio managers saw significant investment opportunities due to historic market dislocations and economic disruption, and invested in senior bonds of select U.S. carriers that it believed could sustain reduced traffic for a significant period.

All three co-founders of Värde have now retired from active management of the firm. McMillan retired in 2008 while Page retired in 2015. Hicks retired in January 2022 and was succeeded by Ilfryn Carstairs. Page and Hicks remain members of the board for Värde.

Notable deals
In 2011, Värde did a debt-for-equity swap with Crest Nicholson become its majority owner. When Crest Nicholson relisted in 2013, its share price significantly increased allowing Värde to profit from its sale.

In March 2015, consortium of investors that included Värde, Deutsche Bank and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquired GE Capital's consumer lending business in Australia and New Zealand for $6.3 billion. It was renamed to Latitude Financial Services.

In November 2016, Citigroup agreed to sell its Canadian subprime lending unit, CitiFinancial Canada to Värde and J.C. Flowers & Co. for an undisclosed amount.

In January 2018, Värde and Apollo Global Management acquired a 40.5% stake of OneMain Financial from Fortress Investment Group for $1.4 billion.

In February 2023, Värde and Hawkins Way Capital acquired New York Marriott East Side from DekaBank for $153.4 million. This was a loss of nearly $117 million from its previous sale price.

In March 2023, Värde was reported to have made over $50 million in profits after it invested in senior unsecured bonds and held equity short positions in Credit Suisse. Värde increased its bond investment when it the acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS looked more likely and would spare the bondholders from most losses. While Värde lost money from additional tier one bonds, overall its bet had a return greater than 20%.

In July 2023, after Goldman Sachs closed its consumer lending arm Marcus, it sold $1 Billion of Marcus Loans to Värde.