BlueMountain Capital Management
The New York-based USD4 billion manager under Andrew Feldstein, cio and ceo, gets accolades from dealers and investors for launching new funds and entering new markets this year. The USD160 BlueMountain Defensive Credit fund, launched last month, is designed to take advantage of spread compression between corporate loans and unsecured high-yield debt. And in May the firm hired BlackRock veteran David Burt and began investing in asset-backed securities via its BlueMountain Credit Alternatives fund.
ICICI Bank
India's ICICI Bank continued quietly building its foothold in the structured credit market this year, taking a look at collateralized debt obligations offered in Asia, pricing deals itself, and making selective investments here and there. The bank also is said to be building up its structuring teams with the goal of eventually producing its own structures on par with its international competitors. ICICI has already collaborated on deals, working with Barclays Capital at the end of last year on the U.K. firm's first offshore synthetic CDO of Indian debt--a USD300 million deal named Ganges.
PIMCO
Two portfolio managers--Mark Kiesel and Mark Hudoff--and PIMCO's collateralized debt obligation product manager--Powell Thurston--helped lead the Newport Beach, Calif.-based bond giant to the forefront of the market this year, according to investors. PIMCO embraces new strategies and finds value in beaten-up sectors, they reported. Dealers also said the manager is quick to capitalize on negative basis trade ideas and it was an early end-user of loan-credit default swaps both in the U.S. and Europe.
