EVENTS

Bonds are Back! Where are the Opportunities?

Lunch and Panel Discussion

What Our Panel of Experts Discussed

The outlook for Treasuries, municipal bonds, bank loans, high yield, and distressed credit opportunities.
How bonds are finally back in favor after 10+ years of easy monetary policy and low interest rates.
How credit strategies can generate better risk-adjusted returns than stocks.
With tightening liquidity and bloated fiscal spending, risk premiums have risen. A trend that may continue.

Key Takeaways

Despite a rapid rise in interest rates since 2022, the economy remains resilient for now. Winning the battle against inflation means rates may have to stay at current levels for longer.
With an economic contraction still a risk in 2024, a reduction in liquidity also creates an environment where special situations are rewarded.
Credit-focused, active managers can take advantage of an upcoming cycle in credit opportunities and invest in bonds with attractive yields.

Panelists

Prior to joining Chatham in 2009, Mr. Ratner had an 18-year career at DLJ / Credit Suisse in investment banking, high yield research and distressed research, most recently as a Managing Director and Head of Distressed Research. In this capacity he hired and trained nearly all members of the distressed research team, and also ran the vendor finance business for four years. Evan joined DLJ in 1991 in investment banking before joining high yield research in early 1994. He later became a distressed analyst and subsequently headed DLJ’s Distressed Research team. After Credit Suisse purchased DLJ in 2000, Evan continued to head the distressed team until leaving for an event-driven hedge fund, Darmel Management, in mid-2002, where he was the Distressed Portfolio Manager. He returned to Credit Suisse the following year and resumed his role as the head of Distressed Research. Before joining DLJ, Evan was a financial analyst in Goldman Sachs Investment Banking group focusing on financial institutions. Evan earned an M.B.A in Finance from Columbia University Graduate School of Business in 1991, as well as a B.A. in Economics from Columbia College in 1985. Prior to his 27 year-career in finance, Evan was a Professional Tennis Player from 1985-86, and achieved a high world ranking of #309 in singles and #209 in doubles.

Stanton Ray is the co-head of the U.S. Bank Loan team and a senior portfolio manager for the U.S. Bank Loan team at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. In this role he is responsible for running the US Bank Loan business, originating CLO’s, co-managing the Columbia Floating Rate Fund, managing high yield loan and bond assets in structured vehicles and other investment products managed by the firm, and co-chairing the credit committee. Mr. Ray joined the firm in 2022. Previously, Stanton worked at Carlson Capital LP, where he was a Partner and Head of Corporate Credit. He successfully launched Carlson’s CLO platform and managed a multi-billion-dollar credit portfolio that included bank loans, distressed debt and high yield bonds. He was also responsible for marketing, and overall strategic direction of the credit and CLO business. Stanton has been a member of the investment community since 2003. He received his B.A. and M.S. in Accounting from Texas A&M University as well as an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Mr. Fisher is a Managing Director at HPS Investment Partners and Portfolio Manager of the Special Situations Opportunity Funds. Prior to joining HPS in 2018, Mr. Fisher was the Managing member of Tålamod Asset Management, a distressed credit investment firm he founded in 2008. Prior to founding Tålamod, Mr. Fisher was a Principal at Watershed Asset Management, a hedge fund focused on distressed debt and special situations. Prior to Watershed, Mr. Fisher was an Associate at Golden Gate Capital, a San Francisco based private equity firm. Mr. Fisher began his principal investing career as an Analyst in the London office of private equity firm, Hicks Muse Tate & Furst. Mr. Fisher holds an AB in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard College and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.