perspectives

13 Mar 2015 White Paper – Introduction to Private Credit

Large institutional investors allocate a significant amount of their total assets to fixed income, which is intended to provide consistent income and lower volatility than equity. Insurance companies, pension funds and certain other long-term investors seek specific fixed income assets that provide both long duration and potentially lower losses than other investment choices. Many of these investors now realise that the fixed income asset class that can provide the duration they need along with potentially higher returns and lower losses is private credit, also know as "private placements". The purpose of this paper is to introduce the asset class and explain its nature, characteristics and distinctions and explore some of the advantages and risks of investing in private credit.

04 Feb 2015 Webinar: Where to from Here? 2015 Outlook for Senior Loans

2014 will be remembered as an eventful year for the senior loan market. Fueled by the expectation of normalizing interest rates and a firm belief in the structural advantages afforded by loans, investors are wondering what's in store for the coming year and beyond. Is it finally time to embrace a floating rate asset class?

29 Jan 2015 Fixed Income Perspectives

Resolutions that promise sweeping change can be inspiring in concept but daunting to implement. But after the new year’s shaky start – characterised by a spike in equity and interest rate volatility, continued weakness in oil and commodity prices, and a strengthening dollar – the European Central Bank finally moved beyond rhetoric, revealing a concrete game plan to defeat the euro zone’s own version of “deflategate” in 2015 and beyond.

20 Jan 2015 Voya Senior Loan Group – 2014 Recap and 2015 Outlook

Notwithstanding a full year total return that fell short of initial expectations, the global loan market navigated 2014’s choppy waters in reasonably sound fashion. While credit fundamentals remained relatively healthy, overall investor sentiment and, in turn, average loan prices were buffeted by a series of external headwinds.

28 Nov 2014 White Paper: Corporate Credit Strategies Help Overcome Declining Expectations

Worldwide central bank response to muted economic growth has brought fixed income yields to all time lows. Many investors are concerned that as growth accelerates and interest rates return to normal, returns on bonds with duration risk – most notably broad market investment grade bonds – will suffer and fail to meet their fixed income needs.

25 Nov 2014 White Paper: Opportunities in Mortgage Derivatives

With approximately $8.7 trillion outstanding, mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are among the largest sectors of the U.S. bond market. And given its lack of homogeneity, mortgages offer many alpha-generating opportunities.

21 Nov 2014 Voya Senior Loan – A Market Update, Fall 2014

From our vantage point, the senior loan market looks reasonably well situated right now, contrary, in many instances, to what we’ve been reading recently in the financial press. Senior loans (a/k/a “leveraged loans”) were one of the best performing “high income” asset classes during the September through October risk-off period, and have a long track record of providing attractive risk-adjusted returns (i.e., “Sharpe” ratios) to investors. In this short piece, we discuss a few of the key factors behind both recent loan performance and the current investment thesis. And, just maybe, deconstruct some misconceptions along the way.