Principal Global Investors has expanded its fixed income team in Europe with the transfer of Mark Cernicky (pictured) and Randy Woodbury to its London office and the appointment of two senior analysts, Nicolas Woodcock and Sebastien Poulin.
These changes come in response to growth in demand from European investors for more opportunistic credit and specialist strategies.
The firm says that fixed income investors are moving from a narrow focus on local sovereign debt to an interest in everything from pensions to savings accounts. This is creating change in the European markets, as investors increasingly move outside their country to meet their retirement objectives.
Cernicky is a managing director within Principal’s global fixed income, responsible for creating and delivering custom investment solutions to clients globally. Woodbury is a senior portfolio manager and trader, responsible for managing global investment grade strategies. He is also lead portfolio manager for global capital structure opportunities funds and co-manages all investment credit-rated global bond funds.
Woodcock joins the firm as senior fixed income analyst in Principal’s global fixed income team and will be responsible for global telecom & media, investment grade, relative value and liability-driven investment strategies. Poulin has been appointed as a senior high yield analyst responsible for targeting opportunities in the European high yield telecom & media sector.
Nick Lyster, chief executive officer of Principal Global Investors Europe, says: “As European investors seek returns in this low-yield environment, with the prospect of rate hikes around the corner, there has been increased interest in specialist, opportunistic and unconstrained credit strategies that are able to provide alpha by delivering higher returns while still preserving capital.”
Principal Global Investors has assets under management of $346.2 billion (€316.0 billion) as at June 30, 2015.
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