Credit Team Expands High Yield Strategy to Reach Qualified British Investors
BOCA RATON/LONDON – Polen Capital, a global asset manager, today announced the expansion of its credit platform to qualified British investors with the launch of the Polen Capital Opportunistic High Yield Fund, which pursues a high yield strategy.
The Polen Capital Opportunistic High Yield Fund allows UK-based investors to access a concentrated (60-90 issuers), yield-advantaged portfolio with the flexibility to capitalize on opportunities across high yield bonds and loans. In particular, the fund focuses on high yield bonds, senior secured bank loans, and special situations opportunities. The fund is classified under Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
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The fund expands access to the existing $4.4bn1 Polen Capital Opportunistic High Yield strategy, which was originally launched in March 1998. Both the strategy and the fund are managed by a highly experienced 17-person team, led by the Head of the High Yield team, Dave Breazzano, alongside portfolio managers Ben Santonelli and John Sherman.
The team applies a consistent bottom-up and private equity-like investment approach based on loan-to-value analysis, in addition to traditional credit metrics. A roster of sector specialists provides industry-specific analysis on both bonds and bank loans, enabling such professionals to forge strong industry relationships, conduct deeper dives on investment opportunities, and address complex situations. An embedded dedicated transactional attorney augments analysts’ review of credit documents to better assess downside protection.
“Making our credit capabilities more accessible to our international investors represents an exciting step in our goal to provide a suite of complementary, high value-add solutions to our clients across the globe. The launch of the Polen Capital Opportunistic High Yield Fund marks an important development in meeting the increased demand from our international client base for uncorrelated and active income solutions,” said Stan Moss, CEO of Polen Capital.
This is an exciting step in our goal to provide a suite of complementary, high value-add solutions to our clients across the globe.
—Stan C. Moss, Chief Executive Officer
“Through our rigorous loan-to-value analysis, we seek to evaluate opportunities with the mindset of a business owner by identifying companies that have competitive advantages, such as strong barriers to entry and an experienced management team. We believe that lower rated issuers are often under-researched and mis-rated by agencies, which enables us to leverage structural market inefficiencies by identifying mispriced, higher yielding securities that feature an embedded margin of safety. This approach helps drive outperformance over the long-term,” said Dave Breazzano, Head of the High Yield team.
We believe lower rated issuers are often mis-rated by agencies, which enables us to leverage structural market inefficiencies.
—Dave Breazzano, Head of High Yield team
The fund is a sub-fund within Polen Capital Funds ICAV, an Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle (ICAV) authorized by the Central Bank of Ireland and categorized as a Qualifying Investor Alternative Investment Fund subject to the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The ICAV structure enables the fund to invest in less liquid financial instruments, such as loans. The fund provides for investor subscriptions on a daily basis, and redemptions on a monthly basis. It is available in USD.
Polen Capital Credit, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary and the dedicated leveraged credit arm of Polen Capital, serves as the investment manager for the fund.
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About Polen Capital
1 Portfolio holdings as of December 31, 2022
Polen Capital Management is a global investment management firm advising approximately $55 billion in assets (as of December 31, 2022) and providing growth and income investment strategies to a wide range of institutional and individual clients around the world. Since 1989, Polen Capital has been committed to attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional professionals who are aligned with the firm’s mission of preserving and growing clients’ assets to protect their present and enable their future. Polen Capital has four autonomous investment teams including the Large Company Growth Team, Small Company Growth Team, High Yield Team, and Emerging Markets Growth Team, with offices in Boca Raton, Fla., Boston, London, and Hong Kong. The firm has been recognized by Pensions & Investments as one of the industry’s “Best Places to Work” for each of the past seven years.