Zeo Capital Advisors was started by Venk Reddy (see bio below) to address a specific need of three family offices. Zeo Capital Advisors manage a carefully-researched portfolio of short-duration corporate debt investments. This hard-to-find combination of deep fundamental analysis and near-term investment horizons is the source of their differentiated performance and risk profile, which you can see here: Performance Comparison Chart Last 12 months ending 2014 Q1.
Their clients (family offices, investment advisers and foundations) are typically looking for a low-volatility place to hold strategic cash (“rainy day” money) or to reduce the volatility in a core fixed income portfolio. The strategy is designed to be both defensive and potentially capitalize on any rise in interest rates. They do not use leverage in achieving their returns. Their fund is a 40 Act fund (open-ended mutual fund), and they do not have a private LP or an offshore vehicle. This is an investor-friendly structure.
Featured Presenters:
Presenting: Venk Reddy is the Founder and Lead Portfolio Manager of Zeo Capital Advisors based in San Francisco.
Below firm & strategy detail.
Zeo Capital Advisors: Firm Description
Zeo Capital Advisors was formed in 2009 with a mission to align our interests with those of our investors. Our shareholders value our commitment to being a fully transparent and accessible resource. We take great pride in delivering the combination of boutique-style management and institutional-quality infrastructure that sets us apart
Zeo Capital Advisors: Strategy Description
Our strategy is best described as “short duration meets Benjamin Graham” – we invest in short-duration corporate debt, carefully selecting each security in our portfolio of approximately 25 holdings. Our clients view us as a core fixed income or strategic cash allocation. Our competitive edge comes from the union of deep fundamental analysis and near-term investment horizons: our average interest rate duration is approximately 1 year, and our average maturity is approximately 2 years. Regardless of the interest rate environment, we believe we deliver a low-volatility, absolute-return risk profile that seeks to beat inflation by an attractive margin. Our strategy is designed to both be defensive and potentially capitalize on any rise in interest rates. Investors in both our 40 Act fund and our SMAs prefer our improved liquidity and more straightforward investments compared to other capital preservation alternatives. We utilize no leverage to enhance our return potential.
Venkatesh Reddy
Lead Portfolio Manager Founder
Mr. Reddy founded Zeo Capital Advisors in 2009. Prior to Zeo, he was a co-founder of Laurel Ridge Asset Management, LP, a $400m multi-strategy hedge fund, where he managed the credit, distressed and event-driven portfolios. In that role, Mr. Reddy specialized in bankruptcy law, asset valuation and opportunities at the intersection of quantitative and fundamental analysis. In addition to his portfolio and investment committee responsibilities, he managed both the credit and technology teams and built the infrastructure underlying the fund’s scalable risk and analysis systems. Previously, Mr. Reddy was head of delta-one trading and structured derivative products within Bank of America’s Equity Financial Products group (EFP). As one of the first traders hired, he was integrally involved in growing EFP from a startup operation to a business employing 215 people with annual revenues of over $700m. Mr. Reddy has also managed investments in event-driven situations, convertible instruments and options at Pine River Capital Management, LP and HBK Investments LP, where he started his career. Mr. Reddy earned a B.A. in Computer Science with Honors from Harvard University.
Bradford Cook
Portfolio Manager Director of Credit Research
Mr. Cook joined Zeo Capital Advisors in 2012. Prior to joining Zeo, he was head of convertible strategies at Sterne Agee Group, Inc. and head of credit research in the convertible bond group at Thomas Weisel Partners LLC. In both roles, Mr. Cook focused on fundamental investments in corporate debt with an emphasis on company value and capital structure. Previously, he was the senior credit analyst at Descartes Capital LLC, a $300m hedge fund focused on high yield and convertible debt, and a high yield analyst for Oaktree Capital Management Ltd., a top-tier European high yield bond and mezzanine fund based in London. Mr. Cook began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Canadian Chartered Accountant in Vancouver with a focus on audit and bankruptcy before joining their London-based corporate finance group. Mr. Cook earned a BComm from the University of Calgary.
RSVP deadline is past