Highland Capital Management

Last updated
Highland Capital Management
Type Private
Industry Asset management
Founded1993;30 years ago (1993) [1]
FoundersJames Dondero, president [2]
Mark Okada, CIO [3]
Headquarters Dallas, Texas, United States
Key people
James Dondero
Mark Okada
Trey Parker
Products Investment fund
Hedge fund
Mutual fund
Total assets $8.3 billion [4]
Number of employees
115
Website www.highlandcapital.com

Highland Capital Management is an alternative investment management firm that manages hedge funds, structured investment vehicles and mutual funds. The firm invests in global public equities, as well as fixed income markets with a focus on leveraged loans, high yield bonds, and structured products.

Contents

The firm is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. [5] It also operates offices in New York City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Seoul and Singapore. Highland reported approximately $13.9 billion of assets under management in 2018. [6]

In October 2019, Highland Capital Management filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. [7]

Overview

Highland Capital Management was founded in 1993 by James Dondero and Mark Okada. [8] The firm was responsible for designing the first software to electronically track loan portfolios, which is used by a majority of loan managers. [9] Highland sold the software to JPMorgan Chase in 2003. In April 2004, Highland entered the mutual fund space with its acquisition of Columbia Management Advisors' bank loan mutual fund business. [10] The company acquired NexBank in 2004. [11] In April 2005, Highland acquired ING Capital Management. The acquisition marked Highland's first move into Europe. [12]

Highland Capital Management has been involved in a number of high profile bankruptcies and reorganizations related to distressed debt investments. Highland was involved in the bankruptcy of Bridge Information Systems in 2001. [13] Highland worked with Delphi Corporation through Delphi's reorganization in December 2006. [14]

In 2011, Highland moved its offices from the Galleria in far north Dallas to the Crescent Complex uptown. [15] Highland is a founding benefactor of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and, in early 2018, the firm provided the center with a $10 million endowment to back a series of public programs. [16]

Investments

Highland manages the Highland Floating Rate Opportunities Fund (NYSE: HFRO), among other closed-end funds. The company launched its first European regulated fund in 2014, the BB Highland Floating Rate Fund, through Banco do Brasil. The new fund, launched as an Irish Qualified Investor Fund, was built to replicate the previous Highland Floating Rate Opportunities Fund which Morningstar named the number one Bank Loan Fund for one, three and five year periods among 213, 168 and 111 funds. Highland's Fund Class Z won the Lipper Award in 2014 for Best Loan Participation Fund over three years. [17]

In February 2010, the firm announced the completion of its CLO Value Fund I, which was launched in November 2008 to invest in secondary CLO debt and equity. [18] Highland launched the Highland/iBoxx Senior Loan ETF in November 2012. In June 2018, the firm launched a UCITS fund focused on collateralized loan obligation (CLO) debt. [19]

Highland Capital Management Fund Advisors is an investment adviser and subsidiary of Highland, which is registered with the SEC. [20] HCM Fund Advisors works with investment companies and manages equity, fixed income and balanced mutual funds. HCM Fund Advisors also manages exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on research from Hedge Fund Research, Inc. The first three ETFs launched by the company and traded on the New York Stock Exchange were Highland HFR Global ETF, Highland HFR Event Driven ETF, and Highland HFR Equity Hedge ETF. [21]

The Highland Global Allocation Fund was valued at $947 million in September 2016. [22] In August 2018, Highland acquired Cityplace Tower from Parmenter Realty Partners and Angelo, Gordon & Co. The transaction was one of the largest building sales in Dallas in 2018. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Financial services</span> Economic service provided by the finance industry

Financial services are economic services provided by the finance industry, which together encompass a broad range of service sector firms that provide financial management, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, consumer-finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds, individual asset managers, and some government-sponsored enterprises.

Fidelity Investments, commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in 1946 and is one of the largest asset managers in the world with $4.3 trillion in assets under management, and, as of December 2022, their assets under administration amount to $10.3 trillion. Fidelity Investments operates a brokerage firm, manages a large family of mutual funds, provides fund distribution and investment advice, retirement services, index funds, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, asset custody, and life insurance.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund and exchange-traded product, i.e. they are traded on stock exchanges.

Distressed securities are securities over companies or government entities that are experiencing financial or operational distress, default, or are under bankruptcy. As far as debt securities, this is called distressed debt. Purchasing or holding such distressed-debt creates significant risk due to the possibility that bankruptcy may render such securities worthless.

A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A fund of funds may be "fettered", meaning that it invests only in funds managed by the same investment company, or "unfettered", meaning that it can invest in external funds run by other managers.

In U.S. financial law, a unit investment trust (UIT) is an investment product offering a fixed (unmanaged) portfolio of securities having a definite life. Unlike open-end and closed-end investment companies, a UIT has no board of directors. A UIT is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940 and is classified as an investment company. UITs are assembled by a sponsor and sold through brokerage firms to investors.

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) is the investment management division of State Street Corporation and the world's fourth largest asset manager, with nearly $4.14 trillion (USD) in assets under management as of 31 December 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TrimTabs Investment Research</span>

TrimTabs Investment Research, Inc. is a leading independent institutional research firm focused on equity market liquidity based in Sausalito, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H.I.G. Capital</span> US private equity and alternative assets investment firm

H.I.G. Capital is a Miami, Florida–based private equity and alternative assets investment firm with $56 billion of equity capital under management. The firm operates a family of private equity, growth equity, credit/special situation, primary lending, syndicated credit, and real estate funds. The company provides both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies.

Blackstone Credit, formerly known as GSO Capital Partners (GSO) is an American hedge fund and the credit investment arm of The Blackstone Group. Blackstone Credit is one of the largest credit-oriented alternative asset managers in the world and a major participant in the leveraged finance marketplace. The firm invests across a variety of credit oriented strategies and products including collateralized loan obligation vehicles investing in secured loans, hedge funds focused on special situations investments, mezzanine debt funds and private equity funds focused on rescue financing.

Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.

AdvisorShares Investments is a US-based investment management firm based in Bethesda, Maryland which offers actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) through the AdvisorShares Trust. AdvisorShares partners with third party financial advisers who already manage clients’ assets to package their investment strategy using exchange-traded funds. As part of promoting its funds it also provides educational support to help financial advisors and investors understand actively managed ETFs and their underlying investment strategies.

Lee Thomas Kranefuss is an American businessman, investment manager, corporate adviser, and entrepreneur.

Betashares is an Australian provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other ASX-traded funds. The company introduced a range of products into the Australian ETF landscape, including Australia's first currency hedged ETF, Australia's first range of commodity ETFs, Australia's first range of currency ETFs, Australia's first ETF using fundamentally based indexes and a range of short exchange traded products. Betashares is based in Sydney, Australia with offices in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Pine River Capital Management L.P. is an asset management firm. The firm trades stocks, fixed income, derivatives and warrants. As of 2018 the company manages approximately US$7 billion across three actively managed platforms: hedge funds, managed accounts and listed investment vehicles to support a number of strategies including interest rates, mortgages, equity long/short, event-driven equity, and global convertible bond arbitrage. The company is currently managed by founder and CEO Brian Taylor and 6 partners.

SBI Mutual Fund is an Asset Management Company introduced by State Bank of India (SBI) and incorporated in 1987 with its corporate head office located in Mumbai, India. SBIFMPL is a joint venture between the State Bank of India, an Indian public sector bank, and Amundi, a European asset management company. A shareholder agreement in this regard has been entered on April 13, 2011, between SBI & AMUNDI Asset Management. Accordingly, SBI currently holds 63% stake in SBIFMPL and the 37% stake is held by AMUNDI Asset Management through a wholly owned subsidiary, Amundi India Holding. SBI & AMUNDI Asset Management shall jointly develop the company as an asset management company of international repute by adopting global best practices and maintaining international standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CI Financial</span> Largest investment management firm by assets under management in Canada

CI Financial is the largest investment management firm by assets under management in Canada. Based in Toronto, Ontario, it offers investment management and wealth management services targeted to high net worth retail investors, as well as brokerage and trading services to portfolio managers and institutional investors. It is considered one of the Big Three investment management companies in Canada, along with Mackenzie Investments and Fiera Capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Capital</span> U.S. financial services firm

American Capital, Ltd. was a publicly traded private equity and global asset management firm, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol “ACAS” from 1997 to 2017 and a component of the S&P 500 Index from 2007 to 2009. American Capital was sold to Ares Management in 2017 at a sale price that totaled $4.1 billion. For those investors who bought American Capital stock in its August 29, 1997 IPO, and held their shares through the sale of American Capital on January 3, 2017, they received a 14% compounded annual return including dividends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HPS Investment Partners</span> American credit investment firm

HPS Investment Partners (HPS) is an American investment firm headquartered in New York City. The firm focuses on investments in private credit and public credit as well as private equity and real assets. Outside the United States, the firm also has offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

References

  1. "Highland Capital Management, L.P." Harvest. Hvst.
  2. Jeff Bounds. "Hedge Funds Get Transparent". D Magazine Partners, Inc. D Magazine.
  3. Azam Ahmed (10 December 2010). "Once-Burned, Highland Is Bullish on Debt". The New York Times.
  4. "Highland Capital Management AUM 13F" . Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  5. "Making Bold Bets on Alternative Investments—and Winning". Barron's. 25 March 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  6. "Highland bolsters sales team as it gears for distressed cycle". HFM. 7 November 2021.
  7. "Highland Capital Management files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy: court filing". Reuters. 16 October 2019.
  8. "Making Bold Bets on Alternative Investments—and Winning". Barron's. 25 March 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  9. Pierre Paulden (September 17, 2007). "In the Eye of the Storm". Institutional Investor. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  10. "Highland Capital Management acquired Columbia Management Advisors'". Pensions & Investments. April 15, 2004. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  11. Perez, Christine (Aug 28, 2005). "Banking on a new name, more space". Dallas Business Journal.
  12. "Europe: Capital Management Unit Sold". The New York Times. 6 April 2005.
  13. Bridge Information Systems Files For Bankruptcy-Law Protection
  14. "Hedge Fund Offers Plan to Reorganize Delphi (Published 2006)". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2022-07-12.
  15. "Highland Capital moving to Uptown from Far North Dallas". Dallas News.
  16. Haber, Holly (15 January 2018). "Bush Center starts off 2018 with pair of $10 million gifts from Highland Capital, Boeing". The Dallas Morning News . Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  17. "Highland Capital Management Launches Floating Rate Fund with Banco do Brasil". Funds Society. April 9, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  18. Highland Capital Management, L.P. Completes CLO Value Fund
  19. Highland Capital offers European investors new kind of exposure to CLOs
  20. Highland Capital Management Names Jim Dondero as Senior Portfolio Manager to Energy MLP Fund
  21. Highland Capital Management Launches Three ETFs
  22. "Surge in passive strategies will be boon – Hedge fund executive Okada". Reuters. 8 September 2016.
  23. "Dallas' landmark Cityplace Tower has a new owner with big plans for the high-rise". Dallas News. 16 August 2018.