SYDNEY: Navigator Global Investments Ltd. has agreed to acquire a portfolio of net revenue share interests in 17 alternative asset managers for $195 million and entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Stable Asset Management LP, the company announced Monday.
The portfolio, to be named the NGI Stable Growth Portfolio, includes interests in managers spanning early-stage to established firms across strategies including long-short equities, royalties, quantitative investing, private credit and relative value. As of March 2026, the portfolio had $15 billion in firm-level assets under management and generated $27 million in distributions during calendar year 2025.
NGI will fund the acquisition through $103 million in cash raised via a fully underwritten pro rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer and $96 million in NGI scrip issued to Stable shareholders at A$2.31 per share. Stable’s limited partners and management team will collectively own approximately 9.6% of NGI’s ordinary shares following the transactions.
The entitlement offer will be conducted at A$2.40 per new share, representing a 2.9% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price of A$2.47 and a 3.2% discount to NGI’s closing share price of A$2.48 on May 1.
Under the strategic partnership, NGI will pay Stable a flat fee of $1.56 million annually for an initial six-year term. Erik Serrano Berntsen, CEO of Stable, will join NGI’s board as an observer.
“The acquisition and the long-term partnership with Stable extends NGI’s business model across the asset manager lifecycle and materially increases NGI’s addressable market,” said Stephen Darke, NGI CEO. “This transaction enhances diversification and long-term growth potential without changing Navigator’s primary strategy of partnering with established and scaled firms.”
NGI expects the acquisition to deliver low double-digit earnings per share accretion in the first full year of ownership. The company forecasts fiscal year 2026 adjusted EBITDA between $100 million and $104 million.
Completion is expected in early fiscal year 2027, subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval and other customary conditions.
Founded in 2006, Stable manages $5.2 billion in assets and has supported the growth of 45 alternative asset managers globally. Blue Owl’s GP Strategic Capital division, a major NGI shareholder, said it fully supports the transaction.
Editor’s Commentary:
What’s notable here isn’t just the size of the deal — it’s the structure and signal.
NGI is effectively buying a diversified book of GP-level cash flows at a 7.6x multiple on calendar 2025 distributions. In an environment where outright GP stakes have traded at double-digit multiples, this looks disciplined. The use of scrip consideration (nearly half the purchase price) and the escrow arrangements — two years for Stable’s management team, one year for LPs — align incentives in a way all-cash deals cannot.
The $1.56 million annual management fee to Stable is modest relative to the $195 million outlay, but the real question is pipeline. Stable claims to have seeded or accelerated 45 managers. NGI is paying for access to that deal flow going forward. The risk is that the best opportunities are already in the portfolio.
The entitlement offer’s 1-for-8.13 structure and 3.2% discount to the pre-announcement close suggests confidence in take-up, though non-renounceable offers always carry dilution risk for non-participants.
One line worth watching: NGI is amending its debt facility to increase size and extend term before June 30. That suggests management expects further deployment. Whether that’s prudent scaling or peak enthusiasm depends on how the Stable partnership performs over the next 18 months.
For now, the market gets a portfolio with $27 million in trailing distributions, low double-digit accretion guidance, and a new nine-figure shareholder in Stable’s backers. The due diligence question for investors: Is this a platform-defining partnership or a permanent capital vehicle paying up for growth that could have been built organically? The next two years of escrow — and distributions — will tell.