Xponance Inc. announced on March 19, 2024, a successful investment in and commitment to The Copia Group LLC, led by the former president of Northern Trust Asset Management.

Xponance’s focus is to leverage its multistrategy capabilities for the success of its clients, with a core commitment to diverse perspectives, multidecade experience, intellectual rigor and honesty. Xponance is managed and employee-owned by women and diverse investment professionals. The investment in Copia Group directly aligns with Xponance’s mission and values, in that Copia Group is similarly committed to compassion, resilience, excellence, equity and diversity in its provision of bespoke capital solutions to privately held, U.S.-based companies.

Xponance CEO, CIO and founder Tina Byles Williams said Copia Group’s focus on credit, on top of its portfolio construction and focus on the middle market, made it an attractive opportunity. She noted that, despite a difficult fundraising environment, Xponance is attracted to quality opportunities like Copia Group. The investment is Xponance’s first emerging manager commitment and will be done through its alternatives subsidiary established for that purpose.

Copia Group is a Chicago-based private capital firm, founded and led by Shundrawn A. Thomas and a diverse senior leadership team. Thomas received a lifetime achievement award for leadership in diversity, equity and inclusion from InvestmentNews in 2021, and was named one of the “Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America” by Black Enterprise Magazine in 2017.