Schroders Capital unveiled its global debt and credit business.
The newly-formed private debt and credit alternatives (PDCA) business will comprise real asset debt, structured and corporate credit, specialty finance and impact lending and serve as a robust growth engine for Schroders Capital. The new business unit will initially oversee $30 billion in assets under management with more than 100 investment professionals.
The PDCA will be led by Michelle Russell-Dowe and Stephan Ruoff as co-heads, reporting into Georg Wunderlin, global head of private assets. Based in the U.S., Russell-Dowe and Ruoff will also continue their responsibilities as global head of securitized product and asset-based finance and global head of insurance-linked securities (ILS), respectively.
By merging strategies onto a shared platform, the PDCA will offer increased investment flexibility by allocating capital to the most promising ideas across the global debt space. Investors can benefit from a broader range of accessible products which present attractive investment opportunities and robust return profiles, as well as enhanced product development and communication between Schroders Capital’s specialist investment teams.
This new platform will also enable Schroders Capital to communicate its macroeconomic views more effectively, align opportunities across the platform, whilst also further strengthening distribution and risk management.
“Investors are having to navigate an ever-evolving, often volatile market environment and they need dynamic and flexible solutions to navigate market conditions that are unfamiliar to many. We are witnessing structural changes that have resulted in higher interest rates,” Michelle Russell-Dowe and Stephan Ruoff, co-heads of PDCA at Schroders Capital, said in a joint statement. “With this backdrop, there is a heightened focus on debt and credit. The creation of our PDCA platform allows us to provide clients with flexible solutions at a critical time whilst enhancing our perspective and improving our ability to manage change as we focus on delivering innovative dynamic solutions which will meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.
“The combined expertise and streamlined approach will create a process and perspective that allows greater alignment to our clients’ needs and provides our partners with a broader array of investment options. Combining these crucial investment areas allows for better return profiles and a flexible approach to navigate these rapidly changing opportunity sets alongside core and strategic attractive investments.
“Given the global regime change, which we describe as the ‘3D Reset’ spanning deglobalization, decarbonization and demographics, resulting in a historical income opportunity, this is the right time to accelerate our growing debt and credit business.”
“Schroders Capital has evolved to what is now a global and trusted solutions provider in private markets for our clients,” Georg Wunderlin, global head of private assets at Schroders Capital, said. “We only see the momentum behind its growth continuing, with a clear appetite from investors to capture the diversification and returns that private assets can offer.
“Global macroeconomics combined with the credit cycle are providing strong tailwinds particularly for debt and credit strategies. The private debt total market is estimated at ~$23 trillion, but only ~6% is currently served by private credit managers, leaving plenty of room for growth.
“We are excited to bring together our alternative credit businesses into one leading platform at such an opportune time. This will allow us to provide a wide range of flexible financing solutions to the market and a rich set of investment opportunities to our clients.”
