JPC Online 4th Held Report
PennantPark Investment Advisors
About the attractiveness and elasticity of the "US Middle Market Direct Lending Strategy" and investment opportunities after corona
コロナ危機の中でも、世界の投資市場では、ＥＳＧ，ＳＤＧｓ投資の拡大が続いている。
このような状況下、今回のオンラインコンファレンスでは、「運用の新方策（ニューノーマル）を探る」の第3弾として、「企業年金のＥＳＧ投資考察とクリーン・エネルギー・ファンドのご紹介」というテーマで開催した。
年金のような長期投資家にとって、長期目線での資産運用は必須であり、「社会的課題に立ち向かうＥＳＧ・ＳＤＧｓ投資の隆盛はまだまだ止まらない。」との説明にも頷けた。
又、ＥＳＧ投資で最も理解しやすい「E（環境）」にフォーカスした戦略として、ＣＡＲＶＡＬ社の「クリーン・エネルギー（太陽光）・ファンド」を紹介した。本戦略は、太陽光発電会社等のキャッシュ・フローに着目したクレジット投資がメインとの説明であり、米国電力需要は今後も拡大が予想されるなかで、脱炭素への社会的要請は、クリーン・エネルギー（太陽光）発電を益々盛んにし、その資金需要は今後も旺盛との事であった。又、同社は、比較的小規模で利回りの高い発電所案件にも注力し、それを、要求利回りの低い大型インフラファンドに売却する等の入替えで収益底上げの努力している事例紹介もあり、米国投資会社のバイタリティも感じられた。
ＣＡＲＶＡＬ社は、ＮＹに拠点のある「Soleil Global Advisors社」から紹介を受けたが、海外投資案件、特に小粒でもピリッとした戦略や、日本では余り有名ではないが自国では運用力が高く、信頼できると評価されている運用会社の発掘には、言語と地理的壁を超えたネットワークが必要であり、同社のようなマーケティング会社の役割も重要であると改めて認識された。
日本では、「企業への貸出」に年金が投資する手段が余り存在しない中、脱炭素という社会課題解決にも寄与でき、資金需要も継続すると予測される米国での「太陽光発電へのクレジット投資」を、年金資産の投資対象とする事は可能か？是非議論して頂ければと思います。
Speaker: Art Penn
PennantPark Investment Advisors (PPIA)
Founder and Managing Partner
昨今のESG投資環境および年金基金
による対応の検討
Today, a year and a half after the outbreak of coronavirus, vaccines are rapidly spreading in the United States and economic activity is gradually returning. It is believed that this was influenced by various measures taken by the US government. In particular, it can be said that the federal government's aid bill totaling 5.3 trillion yen and the Fed's low interest rate policy, "considering any means as a countermeasure," were effective. Although it is difficult to predict future policy responses due to the polarization of the federal parliament, the US economy is steadily recovering from the stock market and employment statistics.
Pennant Park is a loan (direct lending) that provides senior secured capital with first mortgage to relatively small companies with EBITDA of $ 50 million or less, which is mainly funded by a private equity sponsor company in the middle market. ) Is running. With 200,000 US middle-market companies, it is an attractive market that generates about one-third of the revenue of the US private economy. Loans have a cushion of 35-65% of stocks at the bottom of the capital structure, which is a relatively safe asset in terms of debt protection, but is affected by the business cycle in terms of profits. Future investments in the credit market will need to be more selective. Twelve years after the 2008-9 global financial crisis, the credit cycle has reached its final stage in the second half. Even without the corona bruise, the market correction was near. Even under these circumstances, middle market direct lending strategies, especially loans to companies with an EBITDA of $ 50 million or less, have been carefully researched, have low liquidity, have financial covenants, and have sufficient equity equity. If solicited, you will get a low-risk, yet illiquid premium return.
Impact of Corona on Private Credit Markets
Speaker: Jose Briones
Pennant Park Investment Advisors (PPIA )
partner
”本物のESG投資、「クリーンエネルギー戦略」という魅力的な投資機会
Under the corona storm, some sectors performed better than expected, as opposed to the sectors that were heavily affected. As such, sector selection, low leverage, and the ability to deal with problems as they arise may avoid default risk and, as a result, reflect performance. Pennant Park has focused on five sectors that provide stable and consistent cash flow (government services, healthcare, etc.) and avoided those that are susceptible to economic fluctuations. Having a strong field had the advantage of being the first to call for the selection and acquisition of loan projects, but the negative impact of the default of the corona sickness could be minimized.
In addition, Pennant Park provides various advice so that the lender company and the stock investee (private equity fund) can work together to create a solution. This will benefit all stakeholders of the company, equity investees and lenders. Since the middle market direct lending strategy enables such elastic transactions, it is also possible to strengthen capital conservation.
Pennant Park is an independent private credit company founded by Art Pen in 2007. Currently, it has total assets under management of approximately $ 4.7 billion (as of the end of March 2021) and specializes in the US middle market direct lending strategy. In particular, since the senior credit strategy is mainly for senior secured loans with direct underwriting first mortgage, it is possible to obtain higher returns than leveraged loans and high yields and build a low-risk portfolio while prioritizing capital preservation. .. From multiple levels of risk management, we constantly monitor credit risk, interest rate risk, diversification, etc., and also incorporate ESG policies. Pennant Park offers a variety of vehicles, including closed-end funds, CLOs, and listed business development companies (BDCs), to meet the needs of investors. There is also a Japanese gatekeeper window, so if you are interested, please feel free to contact us.
At the end:
Advice from Art Pen on inflation measures for pension funds
First of all, senior loans in the middle market direct lending strategy are almost 100%, with floating interest rates. In addition, Pennant Park's direct lending also comes with a lower limit of LIBOR, so you can avoid interest rate risk even if the current LIBOR drops below 1%. Inflation is also usually a reflection of economic gains, in which case the borrower's performance can be improved and the default risk can be reduced. Therefore, by incorporating the direct lending strategy into the bond portfolio, I think we can adapt to inflation risk countermeasures.
First of all, senior loans in the middle market direct lending strategy are almost 100%, with floating interest rates. In addition, Pennant Park's direct lending also comes with a lower limit of LIBOR, so you can avoid interest rate risk even if the current LIBOR drops below 1%. Inflation is also usually a reflection of economic gains, in which case the borrower's performance can be improved and the default risk can be reduced.
Therefore, by incorporating the direct lending strategy into the bond portfolio, I think we can adapt to inflation risk countermeasures.
最後に、改めてクリーンエネルギー戦略は非常に魅力的なESG投資の機会。1時間のセミナーではお伝え出来なかった点も多々ありました。カーバル・インベスターズのことについてはもちろん、ファンドの詳細に関しましても、是非ご遠慮なくソレイユ・グローバル・アドバイザーズにお尋ねください。
Pennant Park Investment Corporation
【Contact Us】
Director Investor Relations April Lee
Investor Relations for Japanese Investors Sakae Takushima
+ 1-917-450-6773