Aakash leads the Private Credit practice at 360 One AM – a vertical that has rapidly grown to over US$1 billion in AuM on the back of thoughtfully crafted niche fixed income solutions for affluent investors that offer them fixed income returns in the 12-16% range with 5 year products offering net yields in the region of 15%.
Aakash says the credit market can be divided into 3segments: the most active part which is upto A- ratings which sees huge institutional participation and offers yields in the 8%-11% range, followed by the BBB to B segment which sees yields in the 12%- 17% segment and then the poorly rated and venture lending spaces which goes into the 18% - 20%+ range.
His team focuses on the second segment (12%-17% range) - lending to established mid and small sized companies who need flexible solutions to fund expansions and other projects which banks are unwilling to offer and MFs cannot offer under their tightened regulations.
Tight filters on credit appraisals results in the firm funding less than 10% of deals evaluated. In its 4 years, the firm has not seen any credit accidents and has been able to comfortably translate net portfolio yields into actual investor returns – through a combination of strong credit appraisals, very strong collateral to secure the loans and agile monitoring to take quick action at the first sign of any weakness.
Between PMS products and AIFs, the private credit vertical of 360 One AM offers HNIs high-yield private credit solutions that are seeing a growing appetite on the back of proven performance.