Industry Updates

U.S. manager Concerto A.M. wins Eur60m credit alpha absolute return mandate from London firm Goodhart Partners

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

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Opalesque Industry Update - Concerto Asset Management, LLC, a manager of U.S. corporate credit based in Charlotte, North Carolina, announced a Euro 60 million credit alpha absolute return mandate from Goodhart Partners, the award-winning multi-manager business based in London.

The win takes Concerto Asset Management, an SEC Registered Investment Adviser, to a total AUM of $140 million and also broadens the Firm’s product offering. The mandate will form part of the UCITS III absolute return bond fund run by Goodhart.

Julie Bouhuys, Founder and CEO of Concerto, said she is highly confident that this product will generate strong interest from US pension funds and endowments. “With government bond yields at such low levels, there is a real need for products, which can replace that lost return without simply chasing after more yield further down the capital structure. We have designed this product to do exactly that, and believe that the move away from traditional, index-based bond investing will gather momentum in the coming years, especially with pensions and endowments.”

Ben Fox, a partner at Goodhart, said “with the high volatility that has been inherent in markets for some time, we felt that an alpha focused strategy was the correct way forward. Concerto offered a distinctive blend of both buy side and sell side knowledge and expertise, combined with the institutional quality risk management that we need for our pension fund client base.”

Goodhart Partners launched their UCITS III absolute return bond fund, the Target Return Fund, more than three years ago. It was the first fund of its kind in the market, and uses a multi-manager framework to generate a diversified absolute return from fixed income markets.

(press release)

Concerto Asset Management is a corporate credit focused manager founded by Julie Bouhuys. Its first Credit Opportunity Fund was launched in October 2008 with seed capital from a large European Incubator and has returned a net 23% since inception. Prior to founding Concerto, Julie was in the lending and capital markets business for 25 years, most recently at Wachovia Securities, where until 2006 she was head of the Fixed Income Credit Products Business. Concerto’s team of 11 displays a suite of credit and capital markets skills spanning two prior credit cycles across par, distressed and relative value investing. Concerto is a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC.

www.concertoasset.com

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