Brad Demong and Leander Christofides, senior private-credit investors who left JPMorgan Chase last year, rejoined the bank to run a newly formed global special situations group in its asset management division.
Passive investments garnered most of the investor cash so far in 2017, but beyond that it was a wide net: S&P 500, small cap, emerging markets, fixed income — anything that could be structured as an ETF.
As the team’s co-chief investment officers, the pair will report to Anton Pil and Chris Hayward, co-managing partners of JPMorgan’s global alternatives unit, according to a statement Monday from the New York-based bank.
Institutional investors have been seeking private credit investments as they look beyond traditional bonds for better returns. The new team is part of the alternative investments group, which oversaw more than $120 billion at the end of last year and helps customers place money into hedge funds and private equity strategies.
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Following criticism for its faulty 2016 election algorithms, the firm appointed a new research director to collaborate with its quants and money managers.
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The recent plunge raised suspicions that quants had caused or exacerbated the sell-off.
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Despite returns of about 8% last year, the products lagged behind the S&P 500’s 22% climb.
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“This move represents an immediate, significant expansion of our existing private credit offering in our alternatives business,” Pil said in the statement.
Demong is based in New York and was with JPMorgan for 17 years in a number of investment banking roles, including as head of leverage and distressed private-side research in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Christofides spent 19 years at the bank and worked in the same region, in the trading business.
The two, who began their roles Monday, previously “took some time to explore opportunities,” spokeswoman Kristen Chambers said in an email.
