Goldman Sachs Petershill Powers Up Kennedy Lewis Investment Management With Strategic Stake

The Big Move

Kennedy Lewis Investment Management just locked in a significant strategic investment from Petershill, the alternative asset management arm of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. This isn’t your typical passive investment—it’s a calculated move that signals serious confidence in the specialized credit firm’s playbook. Concurrently, Azimut Alternative Capital Partners is exiting its minority stake in Kennedy Lewis, marking a transition in the firm’s shareholder structure.

What Makes Kennedy Lewis Stand Out

Founded in 2017 by David K. Chene and Darren L. Richman, Kennedy Lewis has quietly built an impressive track record managing over $14 billion across multiple fund structures. The firm specializes in what you might call the “unglamorous” but profitable corners of the credit markets—opportunities that traditional lenders and mainstream private credit shops tend to overlook. Their focus spans opportunistic credit, homebuilder finance, core lending, and broadly syndicated loan strategies.

Robert Hamilton Kelly, co-head of Petershill at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, highlighted what attracted the mega-institution: “Kennedy Lewis possesses remarkable depth of expertise in specialized areas of the credit markets that are underserved by traditional lenders and many private credit firms. They’ve distinguished themselves through investing in compelling, often complex situations.”

Why This Matters Now

The partnership essentially gives Kennedy Lewis enhanced firepower to expand operations without losing its entrepreneurial DNA. Goldman Sachs brings over $450 billion in alternative assets under management and three decades of market experience. More importantly, Petershill’s model is specifically designed to empower alternative managers—providing capital while preserving autonomy and the management team’s ability to call the shots.

Co-founder Darren L. Richman noted that the firm sees “a large and expanding pool of opportunities that are well-suited to our opportunistic, industry-focused approach” and is now “even better positioned to seize these opportunities on behalf of our global investor base.”

The Exit Play

Azimut Group CEO Giorgio Medda framed the exit positively, highlighting that the transaction demonstrates the viability of exiting GP Stakes investments to “esteemed established buyers.” Crucially, Azimut’s clients who invested in Kennedy Lewis’ strategies remain intact in the relationship—this isn’t a clean break, just a reshuffling of capital providers.

Kennedy Lewis’ strategic positioning in an evolving credit landscape, combined with backing from one of the world’s largest asset managers, positions the firm to navigate whatever comes next in the market cycle.