“Similar to sport, challenging moments “Similar to sport, challenging moments and losses are just a matter of time. and losses are just a matter of time. What makes a firm truly great is how What makes a firm truly great is how the collective group responds during the collective group responds during those moments.” those moments.”
James Eckrich Investor Relations Senior Manager
In the June edition, we were privileged to be joined by James Eckrich, Senior Investor Relations Manager. James brings a wealth of experience and a unique journey to his current role Enjoy the read
Tell us about your decision to work in Investor Relations.
In 2003, I began my career at Morgan Stanley in the Institutional Equity Division. I was in a sales team that worked very closely with the Prime Brokerage division, so from the start of my career I had a front row seat
to the hedge fund industry and like so many others in my position, I considered a move to the buy side as a desirable evolution for my career I worked at Morgan Stanley for nine years and it undoubtedly prepared me for my future role in capital raising and investor relations The global institutional banks direct a considerable amount of resources toward training and developing their young people, and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work in both New York and London during my time at Morgan Stanley, the latter of which really set the table for my future leap into Brazil. I
vividly remember my first day on the London trading desk Nearly 100 people grouped by different regional and product coverage teams, with most people speaking at least two languages, often times many more. As an American, I felt woefully inadequate in this regard, and I immediately saw the benefits of being a global citizen and fluent in multiple languages. Fast forward a couple years, and I decided to take a risk that would allow me to move to the buy side and immerse myself in a culture and country that I had become fascinated with, and like other foreigners, saw tremendous potential. In 2012 I moved to Rio de Janeiro, enrolled in an intensive Portuguese language program, and began working for JGP in their investor relations area. There were many highs and lows during the first year. New country, new language, new firm where I was doing something I had never done before, all while being thousands of miles from friends and family However, my time at Morgan Stanley had armed me with resolve and determination, which when combined with the help of numerous people during those first couple of years, made the move to Brazil the defining moment of my professional career thus far.
After spending four years with JGP, the move to SPX was an easy decision given the trajectory of both firms at the time I saw how critical it was to be close to the investors that I was building relationships with, and to have senior partners living abroad was vital to raising capital. The founding partners at SPX understood this
implicitly and were committed to putting the firm on the global stage Now eight years on from the decision by the partners to expand internationally, it is extraordinary to pause and consider what the firm has accomplished during this period. Even in light of the challenges we’ve faced recently, I’m very optimistic about the future of our firm. Similar to sport, challenging moments and losses are just a matter of time. What makes a firm truly great is how the collective group responds during those moments. I have been constantly reminded of this in conversations with investors over the past two years. Their attention is squarely focused on processes, culture, mood and the team's resilience. Top investors acknowledge that there will be down years, and it is the aforementioned intangibles that allow a firm to thrive.
2. What are the biggest challenges you face today?
There are a number of factors that, when combined, make raising capital in today's environment challenging. Globally, rates have remained elevated, which makes the bar for allocating capital to alternative strategies high. Secondly, investors are overallocated to private equity and are actively trying to reduce exposure, which takes time due to the nature of the strategy. Therefore investors are not able to make new investments until they receive their distributions. Finally, and most obviously, performance has struggled, particularly in our flagship strategy.
That said, our existing clients (sovereign wealth funds and pensions) are considering ways to increase their investment with SPX. Perhaps slightly counterintuitive, particularly from a retail investor perspective, but the long term nature of these relationships is one of the key benefits of this investor type.
Finally, when thinking about new investors, the negative capital raising backdrop doesn't prevent us from building new relationships and raising brand awareness The sales cycle with large institutional investors takes years. Given we are still expanding into different regions and in the early stages of conversations with certain investors, it allows us to focus on building strong relationships so that when the previously mentioned headwinds die down, we are well positioned to accelerate through the final leg of the sales cycle.
3. Talk about projects in your field.
There are a number of projects that we are currently focused on in the international space. However, to name one, there is a new fund structure we are launching which is commonly referred to in the market as a separately managed account (SMA). This has been a trend in the asset management industry, which has gained momentum in the last few years due to the advantages that it affords investors. Some of the most common reasons that investors demand these structures are 1) improved transparency on portfolio holdings, 2) increased cash efficiency, and 3) portfolio
customisation.
Preparing to launch this new fund structure has been a herculean effort, which is still ongoing, and has involved nearly every area within SPX, including significant contributions from Operations, Legal, Risk, and the Treasury desk. One of the benefits of the SMA from SPX’s perspective is that it is very scalable and will open the door to a vast, and growing pool of capital from top tier institutional investors, most of whom will only allocate to managers that can offer this structure.
4. What qualities do you consider when interviewing a candidate?
For a position in sales, there is a specific set of core characteristics that I believe are essential High EQ, excellent communication skills, persistence, and integrity. The subset of people that possess all these characteristics can have a huge range in personality type, sales style, and complementary skills When building a team at a global firm, it is important to have a diverse mix of types and styles, where each person has an edge in the specific country/region they cover. At SPX, the international sales team is very much in the early innings of its build out We have grown our international investor base nicely over the past 7 years, but there is a seemingly endless amount of work to do. Thinking strategically about adding the right people to the team so that we can continue growing investor relationships in key regions is very exciting. There are huge
markets like the US and Asia, where we don’t yet have any blue chip investors, so the potential for growth is enormous.
5. A book or movie inspiring?
I don’t get to read nearly as much as I would like, but one of my favourite books is The Social Animal by David Brooks, and two films that I found particularly inspiring were Free Solo and Senna.
SPX Capital had the honor of participating in the Person of the Year event held in New York, organized by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce This prestigious event recognized some of the most prominent figures in the business world for their notable contributions Alexandre Birman, CEO and CCO of Arezzo & Co., was awarded the Brazilian Personality of the Year, while Wes Edens, Co-Founder and CoCEO of Fortress Investment Group, received the American Personality of the Year title
The event also presented special awards to non-profit organizations making a
significant impact in their fields Parceiros da Educação received the Community Impact Award, Amigos da Poli was honored with the Social Responsibility in Science and Technology Award, and Motriz was recognized with the Social Responsibility in Leadership Development Award
It is inspiring to see how commitment to excellence and social impact is being recognized and celebrated at such a distinguished event
On the 15th of May, our Director and Head of Credit in Emerging Markets, Albano Franco, had the honour of participating in the panel entitled “Credit: the next big thing” during the TAG Summit. At this event, Albano shared valuable insights alongside Daniel Pegorini (Valora Investimentos) and Pierre Jadoul (ARX Investimentos), with Victor Hohi (Sebrae Previdência) mediating
It was an enriching opportunity to discuss the trends and challenges of the credit market.
Our Director and Head of Real Estate, Pedro Daltro, had the privilege of taking part in the FII Summit 2024, an event organised by EQI INVESTIMENTOS in São Paulo. During the panel entitled “Real Estate Funds Market: consolidation or just another cycle?”, Pedro shared his knowledge alongside renowned experts in the sector, including Luís Moran (EQI Research), André Freitas (Hedge Investments) and Marcelo Hannud (Aurea Finvest).
On May 29, our company took part in the J P Morgan Corporate Challenge, a sporting event that brought together teams from various organizations to compete in a race through New York's famous Central Park.
As well as team spirit, the employees showed their commitment to health and well-being It was an opportunity to connect as a team and celebrate our collective achievements.
After the race, the team gathered for a lively picnic in the park.
Congratulations to everyone who took part in this event and see you next year!
Our New York team gathered for a special Happy Hour with the CEO Bruno Marangoni at Papillon Bistro.
The event provided an opportunity for the team to interact, share knowledge, and enjoy a relaxed conversation
Cheers to this and many more moments of connection and collaboration!
1.
SPX Seahawk Global will be three years old in June 2024. The fund is part of SPX’s credit vertical and uses a long bias strategy, with the aim of offering access to the best opportunities in the local and offshore credit markets On the local side, it uses SPX Seahawk’s high grade corporate credit strategy. On the offshore side, the risk is focused on Brazil and LatAm, and can be allocated to other emerging countries. It had a return of 8 66% for the year, against CDI’s 4.40%, and has provided a return of 39.76% since its inception, against 37.04%. The fund is available for investment at BTG Pactual, EQI, Guide, Inter, Órama, PicPay, Safra, Toro, Warren and XP Investimentos.
disponível nas plataformas
2.
Albano Franco, Director and Head of EM Credit at SPX Capital, took part in episode #127 of the Outliers Podcast. In the interview, he talked about the pillars of credit management at SPX and the opportunities for the sector.
Click here to watch the full episode.
SPX was present at the International Seminar “The Structure of Pensions in Europe”, organised by UniAbrapp and Abrapp, held in Madrid between 23 and 30 May. During the third day of the event, our Director of Investment Solutions, Bruno Maueler, and the Director of the Institutional Segment and iShares ETF of BlackRock Brasil, Paula Salamonde, gave a joint presentation on the Journey of International Diversification
FII SPXS11 distributed dividends of BRL 0.096/share for April 2024 (Dividend Yield: 1.00% p.m. or 12.60% p.a. - DY calculated using the closing price on 30 April).
According to the Management Report released, the highlights included a significant increase in the shareholder base due to the fund’s inclusion in Levante’s Smart IFIX portfolio, the allocation in the FII BTG Pactual You Inc. Desenvolvimento Imobiliário with an expected return of 20% p.a. and monthly remuneration of IPCA+9% p a , and the sale of part of the position in the FII VGIP, with a return of 195% of the CDI.
Click here to read the Report.
We registered the first issue offer of SPX SYN Desenvolvimento de Galpões
Logísticos Feeder Institucional FII
Responsabilidade Limitada Single Class shares, an initial total of BRL 400 million initially. The offer is aimed exclusively at qualified investors, including, but not limited to, alternative social security systems (“RPPS”). The Manager and/or Persons Related to the Manager are committed to investing 5% of the total committed capital of shareholders of the Class. In theory, it consists of the development of a AAA logistics condominiums portfolio focusing on the state of São Paulo, within a 30kilometre radius of the capital With the funds raised during the offer, in the indicative pipeline, totalling BRL 1.3 billion, the Manager has ten projects that are in the negotiation stage for investment, three of which have already closed commercially
These operations are being discussed with the sellers on a regular basis and will be acquired depending on the funding. The operations that are commercially closed are already in the technical, legal and environmental due diligence stages being undertaken by external consultants. The net target return (taking into account taxes and the manager’s and administrator’s remuneration) is 20% p a , equivalent to NTN-B-30 + 7% or IPCA+14%, with the data available as of today. Investment intentions will be collected between 28 May and 30 July, with bookbuilding scheduled for 31 July and subscription of the offer’s shares scheduled for 5 August Further information on the offer and related risks can be found in the prospectus and other relevant documents Anyone interested in participating in the offer should contact the lead coordinator
You can join our newsletter too!
If you would like to suggest topics or content, ask questions or share ideas, send an email to: newsletter@spxcapital.com
Follow SPX on social media and stay updated with exclusive content!
