Ironshield Capital and David Nazar: How to build one of the longest, most successful track records in credit
Founded in 2007, London-based Ironshield Capital Management has one of the longest and most successful track records in credit investing, delivering equity-like returns whilst limiting drawdowns. The team is one of the most experienced European Distressed groups in Europe and runs a range of attractive strategies spanning the liquidity spectrum.
This video is a fascinating portrait of Ironshield Capital’s founder David Nazar who has devoted over two decades of his career to European Stressed and Distressed Corporate Credit investment, first at Goldman Sachs and Salomon Brothers, before moving into Distressed Debt at Deutsche Bank, and then Bank of America, where he was the Principal of European Special Situations.
Ironshield has been generating high absolute returns by exploiting periods of market mispricing caused by operational and capital structure changes in credits. Nazar believes the following key factors significantly contributed to Ironshield’s success:
- The single-minded focus on European corporate credit has allowed him and his team to be one of the “most expert set of eyes globally” for corporate situations in Europe and helped exploiting those.
- “Our product is good decisions”: Ironshield’s investment process is segmented into many specific, process-oriented individual decisions, each of which is constantly monitored and further developed. This process also results in superior risk management: in over 300 positions since inception only 2% (6) have lost more than 2% of NAV.
- Empowered team and team culture: Nazar believes that Ironshield’s highly analytical and fundamentally based strategy where team members have a direct influence on shaping portfolios is considerably more rewarding for a qualified investment team than trading oriented strategies. It’s also the better process of making decisions.
- More Alpha in European credit than in the U.S.: Nazar also points to Europe’s fragmentation into many different jurisdictions with their own bankruptcy processes and other structural differences to the U.S. (e.g. Chapter 11) which offer a much richer opportunity set for specialists to create Alpha for investors.
In this video, you’ll also learn:
- The #1 factor for successful credit investing (02:24 (min:sec))
- Barriers to entry and what’s needed to be a master investor in credit (07:39)
- Why is there more Alpha in European credit than US? (10:16)
- Risk Management: The rewards of a good investment process and deep thinking (13:41)
- What drives David Nazar? (12:34);
- Why opportunities for savvy credit investors have multiplied (16:25)
- The role of investor education: “Once we’ve done the work, they tend to stick around” (21:07)
- Can AI become a force in distressed credit investing? (22:21)
David Nazar is the Founder and Managing Partner at Ironshield Capital Management, a specialist absolute return investment manager focusing on European credit markets, with $430m of assets under management.
David founded the firm in 2007 and has devoted over two decades of his career to European Stressed and Distressed Corporate Credit investment. As Chief Investment Officer he focuses his time on fundamental research, portfolio direction and construction, and broad strategy. The manager’s investment approach requires thorough deliberation and the exploration of esoteric opportunities, setting new benchmarks in credit management and delivering enduring value to their stakeholders.
David was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and Salomon Brothers, before moving into Distressed Debt at Deutsche Bank, and then Bank of America, where he was the Principal of European Special Situations. David has a BA with Honours in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.