Private Debt

Overview

This strategy aims to offer additional yield over comparable high-quality public credit securities by investing in a global and well-diversified portfolio of private fixed-income securities. The return objective is to outperform the benchmark by 100 basis points while limiting potential credit losses.

Benchmark

• 50% FTSE Canada Universe Bond Index
• 50% FTSE Canada Long Term Bond Index

Philosophy and process

• The strategy typically targets investment-grade debt transactions with stable or contracted cash flows, strong credit-enhancement features, and sponsors with proven track records.
• Long-term buy and hold approach that extracts additional yield from illiquidity and structure premiums.
• The strategy favours non-cyclical projects such as infrastructure (transportation, social), project finance (wind farm, hydro plant, etc.), and structurally credit-enhanced real estate (credit tenant loan, ground lease).
• Extensive bottom-up fundamental analysis with direct access to management teams and third-party experts.
• Global focus with exposure to solely OECD and investment-grade countries.
• ESG factors are an integral part of our investment analysis as we believe these factors have material impacts on risk-adjusted returns.
• The strategy seeks to add value through credit selection and does not take any call on duration or currencies.

Why invest in these strategies?

• Illiquidity and structure-driven premium over comparable public credit strategies.
• Downside protection philosophy and structural credit enhancements favouring capital preservation over time.
• Disciplined investment process with substantial track record of outperforming the benchmark while minimizing credit losses since inception.
• In-house credit expertise with long-standing market relationships.
• Access to a market segment that is normally reserved to select institutional investors as well as exposure to sectors and projects that are usually not available in the public fixed-income market.
• A strategy that has been successfully executed on behalf of the iA’s General Funds since 1994.

How to invest?

• iAFG Group Savings and Retirement: https://ia.ca/businessopen_in_new