Views on King Street?
Does anyone know about culture, returns, stability etc? Seems to have survived the period of credit fund shutting down during ZIRP.
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Firm has seen a ton amount of turnover since co-founder Fran left, with a large wave of turnover at the end of last year early this year. If you look at most of their research MDs / partners, a good chunk are newer to the firm (last 1-5 years) which does create some tricky power dynamics and infighting. Replaced most of their HF AUM with lower fee CLO AUM though seems to have hit a bottom on HF capital leaving.
That being said, still does interesting deals, good name recognition and decent exit options to other credit HFs if it doesn't work out. Not too dissimilar from say a Davidson Kempner, Anchorage, Marathon, or Brigade but has not scaled AuM / headcount like a Goldentree, Silverpoint, or Oak Hill has.
Thanks for the detailed response. Is your sense that the firm is more analyst or trading driven? My understanding is Silverpoint and Goldentree are more trading driven (not sure about Oak Hill). Are DK/Marathon/Brigade also similar?
Does it even really matter?
Honestly it doesn’t matter. I work at one of the firms you listed and there are times we just make a quick trade and exit after making a point or two and other times we do very heavy diligence and enter a distressed / hairy situation. The goal is to generate alpha and to make sure sizing is appropriate for these opportunities.
On a 1-10 scale, and we were to consider a Diameter a 9, I would put King Street at a 6.5 or a 7. They turn their book faster than some others but also only have 1 partner level trader.
Silverpoint isn't really a trading driven shop.
Silver Point is one of the least trade driven firms. They will do flips and make easy money when readily available, but they have a more thorough diligence process than most other credit shops.
How are their hours / WLB?
Information on King Street is outdated on this forum. King Street is an excellent firm. Have a few friends there. Asset & LP base is very stable. Stabilized years ago. Experiencing net positive inflows currently. Focus nowadays is on vehicles with longer lockups/traditional drawdowns. Very sharp in hairy situations and employ a flexible, opportunistic investment mandate. Recent returns are very solid. Culture is relaxed, relatively speaking, though has become slightly more intense in recent years. Much better environment, however, compared with other sweatshops mentioned above. Like anywhere, there is a political climate to navigate, but people are genuine and operate with moral integrity. Anecdotal reference, but comp figures I've heard are very competitive. In-line or better than other shops mentioned.
Generally agree on culture, though still alot of turmoil given how much turnover the US team has had in the last year. The CLO / Real estate / European teams have been pretty stable but US HF team its hard to say one way or another given how many people have cycled in and out.
Any additional color on their returns? Last time I saw it was around 7-9%?
This year I’ve been receiving a lot more resumes than usual from people at King Street. What’s going on?
Headcount turnover at senior ranks assuming getting resumes around that. Not as bad as Sculptors but similar.
US only but in last 9 months ->
(-) Churn: Co-PM (Paul), Head of restructuring, MD level analyst, MD level distressed trader, 2x senior analysts, 1x junior trader. Four of these were at KS for > 10 years and the rest > 4 years.
(+) New hires: Two research partners, two research MDs, 1 senior analyst
People left for good seats / new firm but lots of old guard leaving so some people probably leaving with them.
this churn level would be a low turnover year at golden tree. Paul was OG, yes, but had been interested in pursuing his own firm since Francis left in 2020. Stayed on to smooth transition but firm/Paul worked together on succession for a while. Head of RX - thought the guy was underwhelming TBH.
As for traders, industry analyst dictate where to put on risk. Partner level trader is a great relationship guy that repackages market color from sell side. Analyst churn, yeah never great.
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