Since the Incora deal made the headlines, there have been some interesting tidbits of info on PIMCO's increasingly active distressed and special sits team. They appear to have revamped their team in the US (heard about some senior hires from KKR's special sits team as well as from Elliott) and in Europe (brought in the former head of alt credit at Och-Ziff/ Sculptor). All in all, even headhunters now describe them as Tier 1 in distressed, whatever that means.
Since there's no specific thread on them, I was hoping to hear more about them - deals they're looking at, recruitment MO, what backgrounds they search for and culture, ideally in Europe/ London but overall as well.
I saw a thread on this a few weeks ago
Yeah, I've seen them mentioned in some interesting threads, + some threads on RE special sits, but I understand they're separate teams, hence I'm trying to flesh out something a bit more specific to this team
Not 100% sure but I know that the prior team was not super great - one guy went to ICG to do run a stressed/distressed fund - they raised half their target, another one founded arcmont’s more stressed/junior strategy and from what I hear they aren’t doing too well…
Seems like they did a full revamp of the team over the last 2 years, but I’d guess it’s too early to say based on their performance at PIMCO, so it’s more about their prior track record. But what do I know afterall - you are probably more senior than me.
Haha, I agree there's a bit of a correlation between insight and seniority, though I wouldn't bank on it.
You bring up an interesting point, wonder what prompted them to execute such an exhaustive revamp. The head of corporate special sits was brought from KKR merely in 2019 (https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/06/13/1868687/220/en/PI…), then all the hiring re-started looks like.
Didn’t his funds at KKR suffer serious performance issues?
Bump
Following
Bump
They are a major player in the Envision transaction as well announced Friday.
I don't know this for a fact, but I'd expect their cost of capital to be slightly lower than the typical distressed fund as well, especially out of the vehicles they have been investing in these transactions out of (more liquids vehicles than their drawdown DISCO vehicles).
Most of the distressed stuff they own that they are headlines for is done close to par...
Don’t know why you’re getting MS for this since it’s literally true…
Must be a lot of random PIMCO employees on here dishing out down votes. Weird
Definitely a fast growing area at PIMCO, last I checked they had $48B in private credit and special situations investments. Read on another thread they're trying to build an analyst layer through their newly established internship role to support the senior VPs and PMs. Seems to be on par with other MF credit arms like KKR/BX credit in terms of exit opps and comp.
Does special sits mean distressed for them?
Nope, it's two separate teams: Private Distressed Credit vs SSG
Bump. Seems like the group flies under the radar, any info on deals and performance?
bump
Big distressed player nowadays along with GSAM. Their big AUM allows them to play across the capital structure through private placement as well as secondary market
Completely incorrect
Mind expanding a bit?
Kinda like when Franklin is involved in every distressed debt deal lol...its not always by choice
seems like the dream making PM at PIMCO and buying a nice suburban house (bonus if with an oceanview) near Newport Beach.
Any idea if PIMCO allows internal movement to this team?
will be extremely difficult. You may need to go to another firm then come back after you gain more experience
bump
SSG and Distressed Private Credit are separate teams at PIMCO. Their distressed team invests solely out of their Corporate Opportunities Fund which is currently on its 4th or 5th vintage and has done very, very well over COVID times. SSG invests out of a number of "TacOpp" funds focused on cash-flow heavy assets such as data centers, music IP rights, aircraft leasing, etc. Both teams are lean (<25 IP headcount) and super bright. Definitely great learning experience and role at PIMCO.
the above is correct.
PIMCO is one of the largest credit managers on the street, so will always have workout positions, that comes with the territory but thats separate from these two teams. They have both been extremely active and done well since COVID.
how much aum does each team manage and any idea what returns are? thanks
Anyone know if this group (SSG or Distressed) hires lateral associates?
Yes, they're hiring for Associate, Portfolio Manager level roles for Special Situations which is mostly based in their New York office.
I guess you are referring to Mathieu Clavel's team? He seems to be good guy and has done some quite sizable private deals in Europe
Yep, that was him. Former Sculptor head of opportunistic credit in Europe I believe.
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