CQS hired Jason Walker and Jessica Hadad. Walker will serve as portfolio manager for the CQS ABS Fund, focusing on European RMBS and global CMBS. Hadad joins as an ABS analyst concentrating on due diligence.
Walker was formerly from Henderson Global Investors, London, where he was an investment manager for the Henderson European ABS Opportunities Fund. His prior experience includes various portfolio management and trading roles at Bank of Scotland in London, TD Securities and Abbey National. He started his career as a credit analyst in ABS with Abbey National Treasury Services in London.
Hadad was previously at Vertical Capital Investment Advisors in New York, where she was an investment analyst with responsibility for detailed credit analysis and stress testing of ABS and MBS investments. She also worked at Ernst & Young in structured finance advisory services and as an analyst in the ABS transactions group.
“The opportunities in ABS continue to be very attractive,” said Michael Hintze, CEO of CQS. “Adding depth to the ABS team will allow us to take further advantage of the growing opportunity set for the benefit of our investors. I am very pleased we have been able to attract such high caliber people.”
“I have known Jason since 1995 when we worked together at Abbey National," said Ali Lumsden, CQS’ chief investment officer. "He has developed a particular expertise in the European RMBS market and the CMBS market globally. Jessica is a valuable addition to our team of analysts and both Jason and Jessica will complement the existing team”.
The CQS ABS Fund was launched back in October 2006 and has achieved an annualized net return to investor of 44.04% from inception to the end of January 2010.
CQS, which is a global diversified asset management firm, focuses on convertibles, ABS and credit portfolios. As at Jan. 31, CQS had US$6.6 billion of assets under management.
