Whitebox Advisors, the US management firm led by industry veteran Andrew Redleaf, has announced the opening of the Whitebox Tactical Income Fund. The launch provides individual investors and investment advisors access to Whitebox’s long-tenured team of fixed income managers who apply an alternative investment philosophy often associated with hedge funds.
“We think investors have come to expect too little from their fixed income allocations. With the Whitebox Tactical Income Fund, we aim to show investors that more is possible,” said Andrew Redleaf, Founder and CEO of Whitebox Advisors. “As we have for many years for our hedge fund clients, the team will dive deeply into the fixed income market in search of unique, idiosyncratic opportunities. What we feel sets us apart from other mutual funds is our ability to remain flexible, opportunistic, and to tactically deviate from convention to isolate value – wherever it can be found in the immense fixed income markets.”
Pete Wiley, the fund’s lead portfolio manager and a 10-year veteran of Whitebox Advisors’ fixed income strategy team, said: “Our specialty is scouring the entire fixed income universe for investments we view as being attractively priced, with high-return potential and low risk. We believe we are able to find these opportunities for our clients, not only due to our depth of experience, but because our flexibility and agility permits us to meaningfully participate in areas of the market we view as undervalued.”
“One reason corporate bond yields are currently suppressed, we believe, is that so many mega-sized bond funds are buying the same huge issues from the same huge issuers,” said Wiley. “We believe those bonds are overbought and that the danger facing many fixed income investors is that they may feel safe in traditionally managed bond funds. Unfortunately, when interest rates go up, the assets of millions of people invested in traditional fixed income funds could fall victim to bond-market repricing and some of those funds’ general inability to adapt quickly.”
