Specialist fixed income manager, BlueBay Asset Management (BlueBay), has added to its emerging market debt (EM) illiquid corporate credit capabilities with the appointment of Illya Zyskind to the newly-created role of Portfolio Manager.Based in London, Illya reports to Polina Kurdyavko, Head of Emerging Markets, and will partner with recent hire, Mihai Florian, to further develop BlueBay’s capabilities in illiquid emerging market corporate credit through co-investment opportunities and new closed-ended investment strategies.
The team believes there is a sizeable opportunity to invest across EM illiquid credit, where the market remains relatively less sophisticated and underpenetrated. This comes at a time when borrowing demand remains high and participating banks reduce risk exposure, given their capital and regulatory constraints. They believe that as banks seek to reduce their exposure, investors can capitalise on attractive mispriced opportunities in corporate credits with strong fundamentals at meaningfully higher yields than their developed markets comparables.
Speaking about Illya’s appointment, Polina Kurdyavko, Head of Emerging Markets, said, “Illya’s skill set and experience complements that of Mihai’s and the wider EM team. In addition, his success in investing in the stressed and distressed space is particularly valuable as we explore a broader range of credit investment stories, aiming to identify those discounted opportunities with asymmetric risk reward profiles.”
Before joining BlueBay, Illya was part of the EM Credit and Special Situations group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, prior to which he worked in their Energy and Power Investment Banking Division. He previously worked at BNP Paribas Group/KBC Group in fixed income research. Illya holds a Masters from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in Business Administration, as well as a Masters from Kiev Taras Shevchenko National University in Finance, where he also was awarded a Bachelor in International Economic Relations.
During 2020, BlueBay plans to launch new investment strategies within the EM illiquid corporate credit space, further extending the existing suite of credit offerings.
