Steven Hornstein's Global Credit Advisers, which launched its maiden fund in October, has outperformed its peers despite turbulent markets, thanks in large part to the fund concentrating in high yield, some investment grade, and distressed corporate debt. The GCA Credit Opportunities Master Fund, a long/short credit strategy, is up 19% this year through March 31, and since inception, up 34%. It has not had a down month.
"The continued deterioration of economic and corporate fundamentals, along with the tight availability of credit, has caused default rates to rise and we expect that trend to continue," Hornstein wrote in an investor letter obtained by Alternative Investment News, a CIN sister publication. "These are unprecedented spreads." He declined to comment on companies the fund is invested in, although did say that he believes that the auto, retailer, basic industrial, and consumer discretionary sectors will continue to face challenging times. The fund specializes in high yield and distressed corporate debt, and trades bonds, credit-default swaps, equities, credit indices, ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries.
Sari Mayer is heading up the fundraising efforts and is approaching foundations, endowments, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. The firm does not have a goal for asset growth, and she declined to specify what assets are.
Hornstein co-founded the firm with John Fusek, Dan Charleston, and Brian Hessel. Previously, Hornstein and Fusek worked together at Sailfish Capital Partners, while Charleston and Hessel worked at J. & W. Seligman.
