September 2014 Issue

CIFC Asset Management’s seasoned investment professionals have been active in the credit markets for many decades. The company was founded nine years ago by a core group of JPMorgan alumni to capitalise on time-tested credit and risk management skills and the secular changes occurring in the financial markets. Stan Sokolowski, Head of Portfolio Management and Trading at CIFC, discusses the merits of investing for total return in the private debt markets.

The number of European deals with a covenant-lite loan package more than doubled in the second quarter, according to Marlborough Partners’ Q2 review.

Pemberton Asset Management become the latest manager to partner with a large institutional investor last month. While the deal is certainly a statement of ambition, it’s also a defensive move for the firm as banks return to the market.

Globally focused multi-asset managers continue to dominate our proprietary ranking of private debt fund managers, but John Grayken's firm Lone Star has topped the rankings this year.

European structured credit is an increasingly attractive option for US institutional investors seeking yield, argues Serone Capital Management’s Neil Servis.

The Central Bank of Ireland is set to lift a ban on private debt fund lending and has, as a by-product, designed one of Europe’s first regulatory frameworks for the asset class.

Having moderated at a US conference earlier this summer, Azla Advisors founder David Waxman offers some key takeaways from the day’s discussions.

The UK government’s initiative to compel banks which decline loan applications to introduce those would-be borrowers to alternative lenders is a welcome boost for the private debt industry, argues Oliver Smiddy.

The senior executives at Golub Capital are a tightly knit crew who are united in their penchant for caution and a conservative approach to lending. Being careful and side-stepping the riskier deals has gotten them to $10bn in capital this year. Some of the team leaders recently sat down with PDI in New York to go over their process and growth.

KKR Asset Management’s provision of junior debt to coffee vending machine firm Selecta was the latest in a string of deals the firm has struck in Europe using capital from its special situations platform, and shows the alternative lender’s voracious appetite for large-scale financings targeting high returns. KKR’s Mark Brown and ACP’s Jörg Spanier speak PDI about the deal.