Penfund Prime Management

John Bradlow and Jeremy Thompson serve as Co-Managing Partners and lead the investment function. Both have been with the firm since the early 1990s, when Penfund shifted its strategy to private credit. Their partnership structure means all material credit approvals rest with a small, stable senior team.

Penfund sources primarily through its network of private equity sponsors across North America. The firm's multi-decade presence in the Canadian and US middle market gives it access to repeat-sponsor transactions, particularly in the C$20 million to C$200 million deal-size range.

Penfund manages a series of closed-end private credit funds raised from Canadian institutional investors, including pension plans and insurance companies. The firm does not publicly disclose specific fund sizes or vintages, but successive funds have allowed steady deployment across credit cycles.

Penfund provides senior secured loans, unitranche debt, subordinated notes, and preferred equity. The firm typically participates as the sole or lead lender in sponsor-backed recapitalizations, acquisitions, and growth financings.

No. Penfund is independently owned by its partners, making it one of the few remaining unaffiliated private credit managers in Canada. It does not share a balance sheet or investment committee with any bank, insurer, or global asset manager.

Penfund focuses exclusively on Canada and the United States. The firm has not disclosed any investments outside North America, and its sponsor network and deal-sourcing infrastructure are concentrated in those two markets.

Penfund does not publicly list excluded sectors, but its portfolio concentration in business services, healthcare, industrials, and consumer suggests an avoidance of highly cyclical or capital-intensive industries such as energy exploration and commodity processing.