The Structured Credit Interview
-
Democratising data
Stephane Michel, senior portfolio manager at the internation...
Q: How does Federated Hermes integrate ESG in its CLO business?
The Structured Credit Interview 27 April 2021
A: CLOs are still very much a universe where we are trying to build an analytical framework that is comparable to what our equity colleagues have been able to do for much longer, due to the provision of data that we haven’t got. That’s the challenge for ESG across .......
-
Income opportunities
Clayton Triick, CFA, senior portfolio manager at Angel Oak Capital Advisors, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did you become involved in the securitisation market?
A: Angel Oak Capital Advisors has a long history within the US securitised markets. Originally as a distressed credit investor during the global financial crisis, Angel Oak was able to invest capital targeting deeply discounted private-label RMBS.As markets continued to improve over the subsequent decade, we .......
The Structured Credit Interview 14 April 2021
-
Strategic expansion
Capital Four ceo Sandro Naef and Capital Four US ceo Jim Wiant answer SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Capital Four become involved in the structured credit market?
The Structured Credit Interview 12 March 2021
A: We have been investing in CLO liabilities for more than a decade. In terms of managing CLOs ourselves, it was a natural evolution a couple of years ago to also start managing CLOs ourselves, as we have been managing senior loans and bonds a long .......
-
Constructive outlook
Deborah Shire, global head of structured finance at AXA Inve...
Q: What were the drivers behind restructuring the AXA IM business into two key divisions – the Alts unit and the Core unit?
The Structured Credit Interview 9 February 2021
A: The business was restructured in March last year (SCI 11 March 2020), with the objective of developing two strategic businesses and boosting the commercial momentum behind them. The aim was to create a dedicated salesforce .......
-
Expanding footprint
Jordan Milman, global head of structured products at Hayfin, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Hayfin become involved in the structured credit market?
A: Hayfin launched a structured credit offering in 2012 and since then has invested over €1.7bn through more than 200 transactions, generating gross returns of 11.9% for 2H20.In June 2020, I joined the firm - along with John Hanisch - to lead the expansion of .......
The Structured Credit Interview 15 January 2021
-
Tech solution
Peter Jasko, ceo at Semeris, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did you become involved in the securitisation market?
A: Semeris launched last month (SCI 4 November), but I started getting involved in securitisation and CLOs in particular in 2001. I had been involved in the credit derivatives market for a couple of years prior to that, looking at basket trades and cranking the .......
The Structured Credit Interview 2 December 2020
-
ESG philosophy
Andrew Lennox, senior portfolio manager at the international...
Q: How and when did the international business of Federated Hermes become involved in the securitisation market?
A: The Federated Hermes European structured credit team consists of senior portfolio manager Stephane Michel, me and two analysts covering the universe of ABS and CLOs. I arrived at the firm 2.5 years ago.One of the attractions of moving to work .......
The Structured Credit Interview 2 November 2020
-
Best-of-breed network
Zach Lewy, founder and group cio of Arrow Global Group, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Arrow Global Group become involved in the non-performing loan market?
The Structured Credit Interview 27 October 2020
A: Arrow Global was established in 2005 as the European principal investment arm of Sallie Mae and was tasked with investing in distressed assets across the region. It was apparent that there were amazing opportunities for local champions to be successful, given that they remained .......
-
Capital preservation
Sharif Anbar-Colas, head of structured credit at Kartesia, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Kartesia become involved in the securitisation market?
The Structured Credit Interview 9 October 2020
A: Kartesia has been involved in the securitisation market for more than 10 years and made investments in securitised products from the first fund raised in 2010. This involvement came from an appreciation of how the securitised tranches of portfolios were trading at a discount to the actual .......
-
Conflict-free trading
Benjamin Arnold, founding partner and ceo of Meraki Global Advisors, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Meraki Global Advisors become involved in the securitisation market?
A: Meraki Global Advisors was founded with the rebellious determination to deliver conflict-free trading to asset managers. Meraki is a global multi-asset outsourced trading and operations firm that was launched in April 2019.We identified a need among the more sophisticated multi-asset hedge fund community .......
The Structured Credit Interview 16 July 2020
-
Investment democratisation
Stan Perromat, co-founder of Privatam, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Privatam become involved in the securitisation market?
A: Privatam was founded in 2014 with the aim of shaking up customised investments for wealth managers. Our four founders saw an opportunity to introduce technology and flexibility into a still quite traditional industry with no real independent actors.We wanted to simplify the process of customised .......
The Structured Credit Interview 25 June 2020
-
Seductive specifieds
An investor's view
SCI spoke to Brendan Doucette, government bond portfolio manager of GW&K Investment Management in Boston. The firm has assets under management of $40bn, of which $1bn is invested in the MBS market. It invests only in GSE-backed bonds.
Q: Where do you see value in the MBS market at the moment Brendan?
We like owning mortgages versus Treasuries, .......
The Structured Credit Interview 18 June 2020
-
Lift off
Francesco Di Costanzo, head of structured credit at Hoist Finance, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did you become involved with securitisation?
A: We are a licensed credit market institution, regulated as a bank, which gives us the advantage of low cost and consistent funding. However, this means, of course, that we are subject to bank capital requirements.
Over the years we have bought unsecured non-performing loan portfolios, to .......
The Structured Credit Interview 27 May 2020
-
Persistent opportunity
Tor Trivers, md and head of the structured credit group at CDIB Capital, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did CDIB Capital become involved in the structured credit market?
The Structured Credit Interview 27 May 2020
A: CDIB Capital was established in 2006, as the private equity arm of China Development Financial, with the objective of deploying and diversifying the group’s proprietary capital outside of Taiwan. The firm has historically managed outside funds, but no credit-related assets until I joined in February .......
-
Unlocking capital
Premod Thomas, ceo of Bayfront Infrastructure Management, answers SCI's questions
Q: Bayfront Infrastructure Management is seeking to help address an infrastructure financing gap in the Asia-Pacific region (SCI 29 April). Can you explain what you mean by this?
The Structured Credit Interview 30 April 2020
A: According to the Asian Development Bank, Asia will need approximately US$1.34trn annually in infrastructure financing between 2016 and 2020 to sustain economic growth. This represents approximately 6% of the region’s .......
-
Real asset focus
Stephane Delatte, ceo and cio of Pierfront Capital, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Pierfront Capital become involved in investment?
The Structured Credit Interview 1 April 2020
A: Pierfront Capital was established in 2016. We have deep experience and expertise in structuring private credit investments in the Asia Pacific, with an investment team with an average of 15-20 years of relevant experience, with specific expertise across the real assets sectors. Our first fund, PCMF, which was .......
-
Closing the gap
Audentia Global investor relations head Sophia Vanco and chi...
Q: How and when did Audentia Global become involved in the capital relief trades market?
The Structured Credit Interview 26 March 2020
NM: Audentia was founded 2.5 years ago by its co-chief investment officers Fasil Nasim and Chris Newman, who had previously worked together in commodity finance at BNP Paribas, in response to the global trade finance market’s US$1.5trn funding gap (as per Asian Development Bank figures). Their .......
-
Core qualities
Caroline Chen, svp and research analyst at Income Research &...
Q: How and when did Income Research & Management become involved in the securitisation market?
The Structured Credit Interview 9 December 2019
A: Income Research & Management is a privately-owned fixed income investment manager that serves institutional and private clients. The firm is headquartered in Boston and was founded in 1987 by managing principals John Sommers and Jack Sommers. Originally a credit-oriented manager, IR+M has been involved in .......
-
Choose risk
Richard Robb, ceo of Christofferson, Robb & Company...
Q: How is CRC involved in the capital relief trade or risk sharing market?
A: We continue to invest in bilateral risk sharing transactions with European banks, as we have since 2003. Eighty-five percent of our deals are synthetic. Our AUM is around US$5bn, covering around US$80bn in reference assets.Q: Anything new?
The Structured Credit Interview 13 November 2019
A: Three years ago, we launched a .......
-
Pursuing illiquidity premia
Corbin Capital ceo Tracy McHale Stuart and cio Craig Bergstrom answer SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Corbin Capital become involved in the securitisation market?
TMS: We’ve been involved in the securitised markets for roughly 13 years.In the early 2000s, the returns in structured credit were so compressed and we didn’t like the leverage profile required to generate our expected return targets, so we kept away. Then in 2007, we .......
The Structured Credit Interview 6 November 2019
-
Single-source solution
Pat Jackson, ceo and founder of Sabal Capital Partners, answers SCI's questions
Q: How and when did Sabal Capital Partners become involved in the securitisation market?
The Structured Credit Interview 2 May 2019
A: I founded Sabal Capital Partners in February 2009, with the aim of focusing on the aftermath of the financial crisis and buying distressed commercial real estate debt. By 2014, we had purchased US$8.4bn of debt, representing approximately 5,000 loans. In the process, we’d built up a .......