Investment Company Strategies

Investment Approach

These strategies seek to take advantage of the opportunity for higher yields and discount appreciation in closed-end funds, while managing risk and controlling execution in a low-volume market. The Fiera Capital team has leveraged its extensive fixed income expertise to develop strategies in both municipal and taxable closed-end funds, presenting investors with tax efficient and taxable options.

Core Principles

  • Diversified Exposure to the Municipal or Taxable Closed-End Fund Universes
  • Attractive After-Tax Yield
  • Focus on Securities-Level Credit Research, Risk Management, Liquidity, and Sophisticated Execution

The complex nature of the closed-end fund universe requires a specialized approach and detailed analysis to identify relative value.

Closed-end Fund Risk Risk Management
Higher credit risk than core fixed income strategies, with allocations to sub-investment grade and non-rated issues Screening at fund constituent holdings level for size, credit, and sector exposures
Use of leverage to boost yield can result in higher interest rate sensitivity

Interest rate sensitivity analysis to determine what we believe to be true effective duration, optional interest rate hedge strategy
Low average daily trading volumes call for sophisticated trade execution Trade execution strategy designed to source liquidity and minimize market impact

 

Senior Investment Team

Iraj KaniIraj Kani

Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager, Quantitative Strategies

Iraj is involved in the development of new products and modeling of risk potential in various strategies. He is a member of the Fixed Income Investment Committee and the Tactical Asset Allocation Committee. He also serves as portfolio manager for the STRONG Nations Currency Fund.

Read biography Iraj Kani