Concordia Advisors, a Goliath of the equity and fixed income hedge fund community with some USD1.1 billion in assets, plans to move into the credit arena. As part of the effort the fund has hired Joshua Ackman, v.p. in credit derivatives sales at Goldman Sachs in New York, and is expected to make further hires, according to officials. Ackman is a veteran of the credit derivatives market, having worked as a trader in Tokyo before transferring to the U.S. late last year (DW, 11/3). Arun Puri, senior portfolio manager in New York, declined comment
Details of the credit arbitrage strategies the fund manager is looking at could not be determined, but market officials said as the credit derivatives market evolves, more ways of managing and packaging credit risk are being created and this is producing a plethora of new credit arbitrage opportunities.
Concordia's approximately USD400 million multi-strategy fund returned 5.39% last year, according to Institutional Investor.
