•  
• Tweet
•  
•        Print
•  
•         Track Keywords
•  
• 

Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

CQS, the US$10bn global multi-strategy asset management firm, launched a new fund in June last year called the CQS Distressed Value Opportunities Fund. The idea behind the launch was that the distressed debt market would provide outstanding opportunities over the current credit cycle (2010-2015).

Established in 1999, CQS is headquartered in London and has regulated operations in London, New York, Hong Kong and Sydney, and with around 210 staff world wide.

The firm’s investment process is based on fundamental bottom-up research and quantitative analysis. The firm’s focus on operations and risk management meant that it was able to meet all redemptions in 2008 and 2009. This resulted in a sharp drop in AuM from around US$9.5bn in mid 2008 to just above US$6bn at the end of 2009. As at the beginning of February 2011, the firm returned to US$10.1bn.

Launched in June 2010, the US$55m CQS Distressed Value Opportunities Fund targets 20% annualised net returns. The fund returned 10.14% in the 6 months to the end-December 2010 and 4.97% in January 2011, having been seeded by a handful of investors at inception. The team generated a 55% return in this strategy in 2009.

The fund’s focus is on global distressed corporate debt and equity. The managers typically keep directionally-long exposure to distressed corporate debt and equity securities, related instruments and their derivatives and may hedge systemic ri......................

To view our full article Click here