StoneCastle Financial Corp. Announces ArrowMark Partners’ Agreement to Acquire StoneCastle Asset Management’s Bank Investment Platform

NEW YORK, Dec. 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StoneCastle Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: BANX) ("StoneCastle Financial" or the “Company”) today announced that ArrowMark Partners (“ArrowMark”) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the platform and assets of StoneCastle Asset Management LLC, the external investment adviser to the Company (“SAM”), through its subsidiary, StoneCastle-ArrowMark Asset Management LLC (“StoneCastle-ArrowMark”) and that the Company’s Board of Directors has appointed StoneCastle-ArrowMark as the new investment adviser to the Company, subject to stockholder approval and the closing of the transaction.  Through the transaction, ArrowMark intends to maximize the strengths of its approximately $8.3 billion credit investment management business and StoneCastle’s bank sector investment platform.  The terms of the proposed investment advisory agreement between the Company and StoneCastle-ArrowMark are materially the same as the existing agreement between SAM and the Company and the advisory fees remain unchanged from the current investment advisory agreement.   

In connection with the transaction, it is anticipated that certain members of StoneCastle Financial’s management team will continue to serve as officers of the Company and that Sanjai Bhonsle, a partner at ArrowMark, will assume the role of Chairman and CEO of the Company.  Joshua Siegel, the Company’s current Chairman and CEO, has agreed to continue to advise the Company as a member of the board of managers of StoneCastle-ArrowMark.  ArrowMark believes that the transaction would allow the Company to maintain the same banking-focused investment strategy, while benefiting from an ability to capture a broader range of investment opportunities designed to enhance shareholder value in both the near and the long-term.

Sanjai Bhonsle joined ArrowMark in October 2012 and serves as Partner and Portfolio Manager for ArrowMark's $4.8 billion corporate credit and lending business.  Prior to joining ArrowMark, he was a Senior Portfolio Manager at GSO Capital Partners, a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group, and member of its Investment and Management Committee.

Joshua Siegel, Chairman and CEO of StoneCastle Financial said, “We believe ArrowMark’s proven and differentiated bank-related investment platform, combined with StoneCastle’s capabilities and community banking relationships, has the ability to provide stockholders with attractive portfolio opportunities, consistency of our investment management approach and our stockholder-first philosophy.”