Arini Capital Management, which has suffered losses this month, has received bids on some of its high-yield debt holdings from asset managers including Pacific Investment Management Co. and Oaktree Capital Management, according to people familiar with the matter. The London-based firm, founded by Hamza Lemssouguer, has already sold some positions in large speculative-grade companies, and dealers are talking with prospective buyers about offloading more. Arini has mainly sought to sell some of its most liquid and performing assets to manage its portfolio and raise cash, with the debt of Sabre Corp. a recent example. Many of the discussions are preliminary, and there is no guarantee they will lead to deals.
Representatives for Pimco and Oaktree declined to comment, and an Arini spokesperson was not available. Arini's flagship hedge fund, which managed $7.5 billion as of July, is down about 26% this year through Oct. 23 as credit markets buckle under rising global interest rates, higher energy prices and threats from artificial intelligence. The fund has never lost money on an annual basis.
The downturn is a striking reversal for Lemssouguer, 36, a former star trader at Credit Suisse who produced stellar returns at Arini by buying the relatively illiquid debt of large firms with lower credit ratings. Over the years the firm grew into one of the fastest-growing hedge funds in Europe, rising to a $21.7 billion credit-trading giant after starting out at $1 billion in 2022.
Alongside shopping its existing holdings, Arini has been drawing new money from investors. Earlier this month it announced it had gathered $1.5 billion in new cash, with more than $400 million already allocated. Its flagship fund remains open to additional capital from existing investors, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing