About this episode
On this special edition of The Takeaway, we’re joined by Portfolio Manager and FS Investments Head of Global Credit Andrew Beckman. We go in depth on what differentiates his approach to credit, how his team sources opportunities and his insights into credit markets today.
Andrew sits down with Chief Market Strategist Troy A. Gayeski, CFA who addresses how allocators are responding to credit’s key trends. Senior Content Strategist Harrison Beck leads the conversation.
Transcript excerpt
[00:00:00] Harrison Beck: For this special edition of The Takeaway and our first podcast episode recorded here in our New York office, we’re reporting from the place where fund construction meets investor needs. We’re joined today by Andrew Beckman, Head of our Global Credit Business, here at the firm. Andrew, you have decades of experience sourcing opportunities in credit for some of the industry’s biggest names.
For our conversation today, you’re going to be bringing us the latest movements in credit markets from the perspective of a portfolio manager. And Troy, you’ll be speaking to how allocators are responding to those movements, and adjusting investor portfolios. So Troy, Andrew, welcome. Thank you very much.
[00:01:07] Troy Gayeski: Yeah, it’s great to be here with Andrew.
[00:01:09] Harrison Beck: First, let’s start with some background. Andrew, for our listeners just getting to know you and your team, if you were to create a highlight reel for your over 20-year career in credit, what would be the greatest hits?
[00:01:22] Andrew Beckman: Sure. So graduating from Wharton, undergraduate, went into investment banking at Solomon Smith Barney. After the typical investment banking program, I spent six years in private equity, which was a great place to really get deep into fundamental investing. Had a lot of experience with credit investors when I was in private equity, syndicating debt. Dealing with distressed companies and distressed debt and ultimately got the itch to move into a more active credit investing role, and I had known some people at Goldman Sachs and the Special Situations Group through some of my distressed experience in private equity and ultimately went to work with them at Goldman.
So I spent probably the longest part of my career at Goldman in their Special Situations Group, which was a really interesting place. It was proprietary capital, Goldman Capital and I think the core part of our thesis was to be very dynamic and tactical investors within credit; really just go where the opportunities were, try to have an unconstrained mandate. And what I found was it really led to differentiated alpha, the ability to just go where the green lights were and avoid areas of the credit markets where there were more red lights. So that was certainly a pivotal part of my career. I transitioned from Goldman to Magnetar, which was another interesting step in my career because at Magnetar, I was running a credit business and Magnetar Capital was fund capital.
