Polen introduces credit offer

Florida-based investment manager, Polen Capital looking to broaden access of its credit capabilities to Australian investors

Polen, which has been building its profile with respect to its global equity capability, is now looking to bring its credit capabilities and the depth of experience of its team across US, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, to Australia. Discussing the company’s approach, Polen’s President, Karl Dasher noted that the acquisition of DDJ in 2022, was Polen’s first move into a non-equity asset class and the team has further expanded the firms’ credit capabilities and added CLOs expertise more recently. We are diversifying our business into areas that are important to our clients and excited to offer more choice to meet the complex needs of our clients.

According to Dasher, Polen has been investing in private markets for more than two decades via its Opportunistic High Yield Fund. He pointed to the fact that private credit opportunities continue to be an area of strong growth potential in circumstances where assets under management (AUM) represented only 2.20% of US gross domestic product, while the US credit market was 1.5 times national GDP.  He also noted that European, Asian, and Latin American private markets were starting from an even lower base, meaning there existed considerable room for growth.   “Polen is excited about the opportunity to bring our full suite of credit solutions via a local vehicle to Australia in the near future,” said Dasher.

According to Polen’s analysis of credit opportunities, the retreat from lending in Europe after recent banking failures suggests that better terms and monetary policy constraints may make 2023-2025 European private first lien opportunities among the more compelling risk-adjusted returns in recent history. With respect to Latin America, the analysis pointed to opportunities for longer-duration capital with a private credit mindset, while in Asia it identified an SME-rich regional business environment translating into a scarce public fixed-income issuer pipeline, so bank lending remains the prime source of financing for most local businesses.