Fitch Ratings is developing an investor outreach program as part of its effort to further penetrate the high-yield market. Mark Oline, managing director and co-head of corporate finance at Fitch in Chicago, said he wants investors to view its research as a resource, not just as ratings, and the agency will be putting out frequent and detailed high-yield market research. To date, it has not had detailed high-yield research and has only published ratings for the sector. "What we want to do is appeal to investors and then have them tell the investment banks 'we like Fitch and want them to rate this deal,'" he added.
Merrill Lynch's incorporation of Fitch ratings into its indices in 2005 is indicative of growing demand for Fitch's opinion when it comes to high yield, said Oline. In the past, Fitch has released company-specific research within the high-yield market but its investor outreach and more general market analysis has not been tailored to high-yield.
Oline said Fitch is actively interviewing for additional hires in its New York and Chicago offices and is looking for professionals with backgrounds in trading, research and marketing as well as fixed-income professionals with experience talking about general market trends. Earlier this year, Fitch brought on Eric Tutterow, group v.p. in high-yield, and Phelps Hoyt, senior v.p. and cfo at KDP Investment Advisors, as part of its high-yield expansion (BW, 11/22).