Marathon Asset Management - thoughts?
anybody know anything about this shop, deal flow, what it’s like working there, returns, etc. They have $14b AUM and BX recently took a minority stake, but I really haven’t heard much about them in the news, etc.
There is so much public information and news articles out there and the two facts you pointed out are straight wrong. BX wasn't recent, was almost 4+ years ago and they are closer to $19bn of AUM. A somewhat recent investor presentation can be found on pg 11 below. https://services.sbcera.org/sirepub/cache/2/xbciohilkcej1ohok0xcax2s/56…
Their flagship hedge fund(s) all for the most part blew up because they went big in energy. Their AUM splits in non-real estate/SP money tilts towards CLO AUM as they are very large issuer in the market but if I had to guess today probably still $5-7 billion in opportunistic/long-only/dislocation type corporate credit money. Not sure if they have a unified jr research team or separate CLO analysts as I've only worked with their senior guys and never heard a peep out of their juniors on calls but if I had to guess it's likely separate given they report 80 investment pros publicly.
They lost their huge structured credit money maker in the last recession (founder of Hildene which is now a top tier structured credit HF), and they've just time and time again been getting burned in bad trades whenever I see them big in names that otherwise offset all of their more liquid stressed money making trades.
Their various fund returns are all public behind paywall sources for people who really are interested (hint: they’re really bad...some funds were down 20-30%+ this year).
this is super helpful man. what paywalls are you talking about to get their returns? like subscriptions like Preqin and shit or news sources?
only speaking to the CLO side but .. they're objectively slated to come out of this downturn as the worst performer lol
Why is this? Who are others in the space that look to be badly hit or are lined up to do well?
Tripped up their OC tests and PIK'ing as a result. Only a handful of managers have IG tranches in danger, and Marathon is one of them. Mostly attributed to exposure to bad sectors and a little bit of bad luck with reinvestment periods ending. Newer names are worse hit but even seasoned guys have not been completely immune
I know these guys relatively well. Would echo comments above
For someone looking at a junior seat, how much weight should they place on the above concerns?
Id say it’s a big and solid enough shop to stick around but if you have another offer then seriously consider that. at the end of the day it takes a lot to shutter a $20bn AUM fund even if it’s got shitty performance as of late. and the same can be said to varying degrees with King Street and Anchorage. but those guys will still be around vs. your startup credit hedge fund with $1bn-2bn AUM. as a junior it’s safe and probably not a bad place to spend a couple of years but then look to leave
bump on this thread.. anyone else have some insights? whats it like being a junior there? what is Marathon's general reputation across the street? anyone know anything about the culture?
I interviewed in their London office back in 2013 with their head of research, an American guy called Vijay. I believe he has since left to launch his own fund. I liked the people I met and the role was for a junior corporate credit analyst so similar to what you are probably looking at. I got to the final round which was a case study but ultimately lost out to a desk analyst from Deutsche bank. At least here in Europe they are a known entity and have been around long enough that people in the space will have heard of them. Given how small the business is I used to meet some of their guys regularly at various broker organized events and they were usually in the same ideas as we were and seemed knowledgeable about their positions. I notice they have a lot of turnover at the junior ranks and my feeling from talking to guys is that (i) pay is below par and (ii) performance in their corporate credit book has been below average. Personally, as a junior I would be happy to take a position there as most guys aren't in a position to be picky and you take what you can get.
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