Onex Credit co-CEO Kovensky steps down at firm he co-founded

Onex Credit’s Stuart Kovensky will step down as co-chief executive officer and chief investment officer after more than a decade at the firm specializing in high-yield investments.

Kovensky, whose departure from the posts is effective April 1, will stay on as a board member at the $17 billion credit management division of Onex Corp., the company confirmed to Bloomberg. Co-CEO Jason New will become head of credit as part of the transition, while Peter Zaltz will become chief investment officer.

Kovensky, a more than 30-year industry veteran, helped found the asset manager that in 2007 became Onex Credit. Based in New Jersey, he earlier worked in distressed and event-driven strategies at John A. Levin & Co. and served as head of research at Murray Capital Management, according to his company biography.

New joined Onex Credit in 2020 after serving as co-head of distressed and special situations investing at what is now Blackstone Credit. Zaltz, based in Toronto, oversees Gluskin Sheff & Associates’s investment management team and also serves as a portfolio manager in fixed-income and alternative credit strategies.

The investment team at Gluskin Sheff, which Onex acquired in 2019, will become part of the Onex Credit umbrella while continuing to operate as a separate company.

“This is a natural evolution for the firm as the teams have already been working closely together,” a representative for Onex said in a statement.

Onex Corp., one of Canada’s largest buyout firms, oversees about $44 billion across private equity, public credit and equity strategies and other debt opportunities. Its Onex Credit division focuses on non-investment grade debt with tradeable, private credit and opportunistic strategies. The Toronto-based firm also has offices in New York, New Jersey and London.

Last August, Onex Corp. promoted Bobby Le Blanc to the newly created role of president, positioning him as a potential successor to founder Gerry Schwartz. Le Blanc had been one of three senior managing directors at the firm and and has never been run by anyone other than Schwartz, who remains chairman and chief executive officer.