Palmer Square’s $37B Credit Empire Could Be Heading to a New Owner

Chris and Angle Long, the co-founders of credit firm Palmer Square Capital Management, are considering selling the business.

The $37 billion Kansas-based firm has hired advisers to solicit interest from potential buyers, and bankers are narrowing down the number of bidders, according to Bloomberg. 

The firm has become a major player in the collateralized loan obligation market, where corporate loans are packaged into securities. According to S&P Global data, the firm’s CLO platform accounts for nearly $27 billion in total assets under management. 

Among Palmer Square’s early backers was a family that once owned the world’s largest Pizza Hut franchisee. As the firm expanded, the Longs also built a higher profile outside finance, becoming co-owners of the Kansas City Current women’s professional soccer team.

The global CLO market entered 2026 with record momentum from 2025, which itself saw the second-highest annual broadly syndicated loan CLO issuance total ever recorded, according to a recent report from Dechert. 

U.S. CLO issuance (combining BSL and middle-market CLOs) came in at approximately $103.3 billion across 236 deals in Q1 before rising to $126.5 billion across 285 deals in Q2, putting the first half of the year at close to $230 billion.

"We expect the use of dedicated CLO equity funds, both captive and third party, to grow as a structuring and capital raising technology for the balance of 2026," the report noted.

Several firms have recently expanded strategic partnerships and closed new issuance deals for CLOs to broaden distribution, raise equity capital, and scale operations. 

Earlier this year, Lakemore Partners Ltd. and Aegon Asset Management expanded their strategic partnership, aiming to grow their CLO investing and management businesses.

Meanwhile, Benefit Street Partners, Franklin Templeton’s private credit specialist investment manager with $93 billion in assets under management, closed its CLO 50 with $500 million. 

In April, CVC Credit announced the final close of its CVC CLO Equity IV with $1 billion in commitments. The vehicle will be used to make equity investments in CVC-managed CLOs issued in the U.S. and Europe.

Palmer Square was founded in 2009 and specializes in managing opportunistic credit strategies, CLO debt strategies, income/short duration strategies, and structured credit issuance strategies.

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