FS Investments reputation, culture?

Hey everyone, so I came across this firm headquartered in Philadelphia, FS Investments formerly known as Franklin Square. They are relatively new, not even 10 years old, yet they have grown exponentially to about $18 AUM.

They are an alternative asset manager specifically focused on lending to companies in the middle market. Interestingly enough, they've partnered with GSO/Blackstone in the credit lending space. Just want to get an idea of the reputation of the firm. How well known are they? And what is the culture like?

Thoughts?

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do not work there but know several people there. Very wide mandate, does literally everything in the credit space. FS started as creating credit mutual funds for commercial investors. Now they have several ETF products that you can invest in, from special sits credit to quantitative credit strategies. Most of this work is in the Philadelphia office. On the PC side of things--someone mentioned deals with Blackstone GSO i have no clue about that to be honest. 

As far as investing roles, most of the revenue-driven work is actually out of new york. They have a pretty good Special Sits credit fund that is entirely out of NYC. They have a few guys with a GS SSG/Distressed HF or PE background who run a wide mandate w/ good returns. I would consider it a strong group but I don't know much about credit investing so who knows. 

 

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