Former Goldman Sachs executive director joins global credit investment manager
Boutique global credit investment manager Bentham Asset Management yesterday announced the appointment of Kate Harris to the newly created role of client portfolio manager.
Ms Harris was previously employed with global investment bank Goldman Sachs in a number of roles since joining the firm in 2001, and was most recently an executive director in Credit and Alternatives sales. She also spent time in the firm’s debt capital markets group.
Commenting on the appointment – effective immediately – Bentham Asset Management’s managing director, Richard Quin, said Ms Harris’ appointment reflects her unique set of skills and experience across domestic and offshore credit markets.
“We’re delighted Kate has joined the Bentham team and believe she will contribute significantly to the further development of Bentham’s business,” he said.
The announcement follows an impressive period for Bentham Asset Management, which continues to record strong returns over the month, quarter and year. Against the backdrop of challenging markets for fixed income and credit, Bentham’s performance demonstrates the value of its approach in actively managing credit, interest rate and FX risks in the portfolio, and focusing on investments in a range of institutional quality asset classes, including senior secured loans, asset backed securities, capital securities, convertible bonds and high yield bonds.
The Bentham Wholesale Global Income Fund returned 19.21% (net of fees) for the year to 30 June 2013, including a 3.16% (net of fees) return for the second quarter of 2013 – a quarter where many fixed income and credit funds posted negative returns. Bentham’s Wholesale Syndicated Loan Fund delivered a net return of 12.22% for the year to 30 June – generating a 1.4% (net of fees) excess return over the CS Leveraged Loan Index (hedged into AUD).
With credit and fixed income markets focusing on the timing and impact of a withdrawal of Quantitative Easing by the US Federal Reserve, Mr Quin notes: “The challenge for the Federal Reserve Chairman [Ben Bernanke] is to exit the historically low interest rate environment, maintain the increase in interest rates achieved in the June quarter and not disrupt the housing market recovery with higher mortgage rates,” he said.
The Syndicated Loan Fund is naturally a floating rate asset class, while the Global Income Fund also remains currently positioned with low interest rate duration, appropriate for a rising global yield environment, and able to benefit from continued flows into floating rate credit sectors.
