Hermes Investment Management has added private debt expertise to its fixed income team as the multi-decade bond bull market arguably nears its peak.
Carina Spitzkopf joins as director for private debt from UBS where she was a director covering leveraged finance risk and portfolio management of the firm’s leveraged loan book in EMEA.
Adrian Lowcock, head of personal investing at Willis Owen, said hiring private debt experts is a trend in the industry now. “This is becoming a more mainstream area of the market and as the bond bull market has arguably peaked and yields have started to pick from their lows, looking to other areas of the market to find attractive opportunities and boost returns is fairly natural.
“Bond funds have already done this by using derivatives to manage the duration of a fund or create markets.”
Lowcock said it isn’t a “deal breaker” whether or not there is private credit expertise on a team. But he added: “If a fund is going to expand its markets and knowledge, a private credit expert can add significant value and a different perspective – going into these markets without the expertise would be a much risker approach.”
He said there is an opportunity to launch a product in this space.
“I think investors are still wanting income and yields in bonds are still fairly low. With the volatility in equity markets there are plenty of investors happy to take some extra risks in bond markets and diversify their exposure in that asset class.”
German Mittelstand market
In her new role, Spitzkopf will help to develop the Hermes business globally within the private debt market, providing in-depth company analysis, industry due diligence reports and comprehensive financial modelling.
She will be based in London and work across the private debt platform, taking the fixed income team headcount to 27.
Patrick Marshall, head of private debt and CLOs at Hermes said: “She brings deep experience of the German SME loan market, which will be instrumental in our growth story this year, as we see ever-increasing deal flow coming out of Germany.
“Similarly, her understanding of structuring deals will be a valuable asset as we continue to grow our private debt platform and look to successfully tap the expanding opportunities in UK and European direct lending.”
She has held leveraged finance, credit and risk roles at Barclays, Commerzbank and Dresdner, where she developed strong experience in both execution and structuring deals.
Spitzkopf’s appointment follows a number of new hires across the platform, including Nachu Chockalingam as a senior emerging market debt portfolio manager in the liquid credit space.
