Asset manager MA Financial Group has acquired US credit asset manager Blue Elephant Capital Management, as it pushes further into the credit and fixed income investment markets. MA Financial announced that it will pay US$5 million for Blue Elephant, which was founded in 2013 and has US$184 million of assets under management. It specialises in asset-backed lending and receivables lending. The two firms have had a loan funding partnership for the past two years. MA Financial started life as Moelis and Co in 2009, as a corporate advisory and investment banking firm, before expanding into asset management, specialising in real estate, hospitality, private credit and private equity.  The company was listed on the ASX in 2017 and changed its name to MA Financial Group in 2021. It entered the lending market in 2018 as a speciality lender, providing legal disbursement funding, which it funds through income focused managed investments. In recent times it has added residential mortgage lending to the mix. Last year it bought mortgage aggregator Finsure, which supports more than 2000 brokers and has a $60 billion loan book. Also last year, it moved to full ownership of residential mortgage lender MKM Capital. MKM, which launched in 2004, specialises in lending to customers who “require a flexible alternative” – non-prime and near-prime credits, small business owners, expats and owner-builders. MA Financial said yesterday that the latest acquisition coincides with a launch of the MA Global Private Credit Fund, which is expected to be available to investors from July.  It has A$2.5 billion of credit assets under management. MA Financial joint chief executive Chris Wyke said in a statement: “The acquisition of Blue Elephant provides MA Financial with a platform for growth in the over US$50 trillion US fixed income market. MA Financial estimates there are approximately US$5 trillion of addressable opportunities in the alternative and specialty finance segment in the US, and over US$8 trillion globally.”