Winners rationale

J.P. Morgan had a stellar year in 2020 in terms of managing private debt, thanks in no small part to the global hunt for yield, as governments and central banks cut rates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of 31 August 2020, there were 22 distributors in Asia in the space of private banking platforms. Its Alternative Credit platform funds are distributed by a number of private bank distributors in the region, a 300% year-on-year change.

A key part of that was the broadening of the distribution footprint to include investments in convertible bonds stemming from the dislocation experienced earlier in the year, in backbone transportation assets and global special situations. The platform had raised US$450 million1 from private banks, representing capital that is long term, strategic and generally committed for multiple years, which encourages a long term investment mentality from our underlying clients.

The 45-year pedigree in managing alternative solutions across market cycles came in handy during a volatile year for investments. The J.P. Morgan Asset Management Alternative Credit group has been managing private credit assets dating back to 1962. The team currently manages US$15 billion in AUM2 across mortgage debt, multi manager, income and credit opportunities, special situations, transportation income, infrastructure debt and real estate mezzanine debt. The combined Alternative Credit capabilities bring together investment expertise across both secured and corporate credit markets, spanning a range of risk and return profiles.

Of note was J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Global Special Situations Group (GSS) which had its final close on US$1.06 billion for its Lynstone Special Situations Fund (Lynstone Fund) in October 2019. GSS has a flexible all-weather approach to investing in stressed and distressed opportunities in both public and private corporate credit. The Lynstone Fund’s investment mandate is focused on identifying and investing in high target returning, misunderstood, and/or discounted investment opportunities across the capital structure in both Europe and North America.

This flexible special situations investing approach served the Lynstone Fund well in 2020. The credit fallout and market dislocation of the Covid Pandemic allowed the Lynstone Fund to deploy approximately 50% of the fund during the year in both public and private stressed and distressed credit opportunities.

J.P. Morgan has distinguished itself in private credit and alternative credit, earning Asian Private Banker’s Best Fund Provider – Private Debt.

 
^{1 J.P. Morgan Asset Management, as of 31 August 2020.
2 J.P. Morgan Asset Management, includes commitments and funding as of March 31, 2020. AUM figures are representative of assets managed by the J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives group, and include some AUM managed by other J.P. Morgan Asset Management investment teams. US Real Estate Mezzanine Debt AUM is at December 31, 2019. Due to rounding, data may not always add up to the total AUM.}