Courage Capital Management, a privately held SEC-registered investment advisor, announced that John E. Klinge and Scott A. Imbach joined the firm as senior managing directors. Klinge and Imbach, distressed debt industry veterans, will open Courage’s Los Angeles office and lead the firm’s investment efforts for its credit opportunities strategy. Klinge and Imbach will also join Courage’s investment committee.

Richard Patton, founder and chief investment officer of Courage said, “We are pleased and excited to welcome John and Scott to the Courage team. These gentlemen bring to Courage over 50 years of collective experience investing in all forms of stressed and distressed opportunities, longstanding relationships that provide a sourcing and research advantage, and demonstrated track records of realizing value in businesses confronting operational or financial challenges.”

Patton continued, “Both John and Scott are experienced investors across market cycles. In addition, they have helped build successful investment businesses and managed significant amounts of institutional capital. The addition of John and Scott will bolster Courage’s dedicated, lower middle market stressed and distressed debt investment strategy which is part of our broader focus on event-driven, special situation investing.”

Klinge brings 29 years of banking and investment experience including an 18-year track record of investing institutional capital in a variety of stressed, distressed, control-play, high yield, and leveraged loan opportunities. Klinge has extensive transaction experience in out-of-court restructurings, Chapter 11 reorganizations and Chapter 7 liquidations. He joins Courage from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP), where he worked for eight years and was a senior managing director and chief credit officer.

Imbach has more than 23 years of banking and investment experience including 16 years of investing in stressed, distressed and other special situation credit opportunities including restructurings, reorganizations, liquidations, leveraged loans, high yield debt and proprietary private debt financings. Imbach also joins Courage from LLCP where he was a managing director and where he worked closely with Klinge in raising the $508 million Deep Value Fund almost three years. While at LLCP, Imbach also served as portfolio manager for two credit-focused, special situation investment vehicles.