US manager launches inaugural onshore investment vehicle in Aus

US-based global credit investment manager, Shenkman Capital Management, has launched its first Australian-domiciled managed investment scheme (MIS), the Shenkman Opportunistic Credit Trust.

Born out of a long-term partnership with Sydney-based capital advisory firm, Clearway Capital Solutions, the trust leverages Shenkman’s longstanding presence in the Australian institutional space since 2008.

The onshore master trust, mirroring Shenkman’s US-based Opportunistic Credit Fund first launched in 2018, invests in “stressed, distressed and performing event-driven corporate credit” opportunities mainly found in the North American secondary markets. While the trust seeks to generate risk-adjusted returns similar to alternative and private credit offerings, it has a significantly shorter liquidity profile.

“We wanted to decisively address this product gap and broaden Shenkman Capital’s presence into the institutional and dynamic wholesale space in Australia and New Zealand,” Shenkman CIO, Justin Slatky, said.

“The Trust is a natural progression of Shenkman Capital’s long-term productive engagement with the region.”

Shenkman brings its experience, expertise and research capabilities in identifying and capitalising on various credit opportunities across bank loans, high yield bonds, convertibles and reorganised equity.

Slatky is joined by Ned Oakley, Head of Absolute Return and Portfolio Manager, and Shirley Luo, Associate PM and Director of Opportunistic Credit Research in spearheading the strategy.

Dennis Mothoneos, Managing Director of Clearway Capital Solutions, told Financial Newswire that the launch is a reflection of Shenkman’s intentions to increase their engagement with both institutional and non-institutional investors in Australia and New Zealand.

“We anticipate that dispersion in the credit markets will persist as the economy decelerates and interest rates undergo a transition to a more normalized range. This presents an exciting opportunity for the Opportunistic Credit Trust to identify mispricings by positioning the strategy either long or short,” Oakley said.

“Additionally, the flexibility of the strategy allows us to capitalize on current thematic opportunities such as fluctuating political risk while being ready to respond to oversold, deep value investments should the market experience a sudden drawdown.”

Clearway Capital and Shenkman Capital have partnered for 15 years, primarily with mandates and activities in the separately managed accounts (SMAs) space.