Third Wave Global Investors, a new macro investor run by a former global chief investment officer at Credit Suisse Asset Management, is expected to open up to outside investors in the next few months and plough new money into the fixed-income market, according to an individual familiar with the manager's plans. The strategy was launched at the end of September and is currently only managing seed capital.
Larry Smith, the former CSAM cio, holds a similar role at the Greenwich, Conn., manager. He declined to discuss its future plans for compliance reasons but explained its general strategy is to invest in assets across the globe, including fixed income and foreign exchange, based on quantitative and qualitative processes. Smith left CSAM in 2003 and had been out of the market before starting Third Wave last fall. An outsider said Smith is well regarded and anticipates he will be able to raise upwards of $100 million in assets in the coming months.
As for his strategy in fixed income and foreign exchange, Smith has recently been buying up 10-year Treasury futures and going long the Australian dollar and British pound because he believes these currencies are poised to appreciate most. He has been avoiding investing in corporate bonds because spreads are too tight but noted if valuations were to decline, he would be a buyer in the sector. The same goes for emerging market debt, where he said valuations appear frothy.
Third Wave Global expects to hire two investment professionals in the near term, with one of the hires to focus on economic research and the other to execute trades. Smith is partnered with Robert Birnbaum, chief operating officer, who was most recently at Columbia Management Group in Boston and previously worked with Smith at CSAM and at J.P. Morgan Investment Management.
