GLG spin-out reaches $500m AuM following pension fund ticket

By Miluska Berrospi

HFM WEEK (January 23, 2017)- New Jersey-based Bramshill Investments received an allocation from the Utah School & Institutional Trust totalling $40m earlier this month, HFM Investor Relations has learned.

Following the public pension fund’s allocation, the firm’s assets under administration surpassed half a billion dollars to reach $501m. The assets went into Bramshill’s Income Performance Strategy Fund, an actively managed portfolio focused on fixed income strategy.

“We view Bramshill’s strategy as an attractive opportunity given their unique strategy that has the ability to rotate between credit sectors and absolute return orientation,” said the school board in public minutes.

The fund invests in securities such as investment grade and high-yield bonds, preferreds, municipal bonds and US treasuries.

“Our continued growth and success of the strategy is reflective of our team effort and our ability to manage risk in various markets,” said CIO and founder Art DeGaetano, following the allocation.

In 2016, the fund had a total monthly return of 7.5%, up from 2.7% in 2015, and down from 8.5% in 2014.

“Bramshill is in its early stages as an investment manager, but has staffed itself with experienced investment professionals,” concluded Fund Evaluation Group, a consultant hired by the Utah School & Institutional trust board, in a report. “The strategy has performed well to date but has yet to encounter a meaningful recession and it is unknown how it would perform (or how investors in the strategy) would react amid a long period of underperformance,” it added.

Last year, the firm launched a liquid alts strategy with around $40m, a mutual fund version of the Income Performance Strategy. It also took on $120m from Trust & Fiduciary Management Services to run as a subsidiary focused on real estate, investment trusts, master limited and closed-end funds that structurally pass through income to investors.

Other credit strategies available at the firm include the Bramshill Credit Plus and Bramshill Diversified Income Strategies.

Bramshill is due to launch a Ucits version of its liquid alternatives fund sometime in April. The fund is targeting $100m and will focus on high-yield bonds, investment-grade corporate credit, municipals and treasuries.

Art DeGaetano launched Bramshill in 2012 with around $190m AuM after spinning the strategy out from GLG, where he had run the Income Performance Fund since inception in 2009.