24/06/2010 BNP Paribas Investment Partners Strengthens Its Global Credit Capabilities
In a move to strengthen its global credit capabilities, BNP Paribas Investment Partners has announced that Martin Fridson is joining BNP Paribas Asset Management, Inc., a US registered investment adviser, as Global Credit Strategist within its Global Credit Investment team.
BNP Paribas Asset Management, Inc. is a part of the BNP Paribas Investment Partners business line. Previously, Fridson was the CEO of Fridson Investment Advisors, LLC, a fundamental, research-driven US registered investment advisory firm. The Fridson Credit strategy, previously managed solely by Fridson Investment Advisors, will be integrated within BNP Paribas Asset Management, Inc.
The Global Credit team will house all of the credit management expertise – combining 22 credit analysts – of BNP Paribas Investment Partners with a goal of bringing focus and driving performance to the various credit offerings. Under the leadership of Maryam Muessel, the former COO of Alternatives & Solutions at Fortis Investment Management S.A., which was acquired by BNP Paribas Investment Partners, the Global Credit team forms part of BNP Paribas Investment Partners S.A.’s Fixed Income division. Muessel reports to Nicolas Chaput, who is the CIO of Fixed Income & Money Markets for BNP Paribas Asset Management and is based in Paris.
Fridson is a well-known and well-regarded figure in the high yield world, with over 30 years of broad-ranging experience. He has written several books on finance and in 2000 became the youngest person ever to be inducted into the Fixed Income Analysts Society Hall of Fame. As head of the Strategy unit within Global Credit, Fridson will contribute to building the team’s research effort and will frame macro views for the Global Credit team's mandates.
“In 2010, we have seen strong interest from our clients in credit products, in particular high yield strategies. With Martin joining forces with the BNP Paribas Asset Management, Inc. team, we will gain a deeper understanding of the credit market dynamics, and we believe that this will have a positive impact regarding the performance of our clients’ portfolios,” says Nicolas Chaput.
Fridson will be based in New York.
About BNP Paribas Investment Partners
BNP Paribas Investment Partners is the dedicated, autonomous asset management business line of the BNP Paribas Group, which includes the following registered investment advisers in the United States: BNP Paribas Asset Management, Inc., Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, Inc., Fortis Investment Management USA, Inc., FundQuest Incorporated and Malbec Partners, Inc. BNP Paribas Investment Partners offers a diverse range of investment management strategies to institutional clients in the U.S. and to institutional and retail clients around the world. Central to the way we work is the concept of partnership – both in terms of how we behave as a family of companies and our relationships with our clients. Around 1200 investment professionals work across our network of some 60 investment centers, each of which is a specialist in a particular asset class or type of product. With total assets under management of $729 billion as of March 31, 2010, BNP Paribas Investment Partners is the eleventh-largest asset manager in the world.