Richard Scott McKinney

DESCO employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative tools to uncover independent, hard-to-find sources of return across global public and private markets. Their investment activities may be divided into three broad categories—systematic strategies based on quantitative and computational techniques, discretionary strategies based primarily on human analysis, and hybrid strategies that combine systematic and discretionary approaches to investing.

For active fixed-income, LBAM's decision-making process incorporates controlled duration decisions, sector decisions, and individual issue valuation decisions. They base interest rate and sector-related investment decisions on our economic growth forecast. The firm uses risk exposure analysis and risk budgeting models to quantify and manage risks associated with strategies that they design to add value relative to the benchmark index. Individual issue selections result from internal research generated by research specialists. They diversify holdings to reduce credit exposure to individual issuers. Eligible investments for core strategies include US dollar denominated investment-grade securities; for core plus strategies the universe of securities expands to include high yield. For passive bond indexing, LBAM seeks to take advantage of risk premiums as they are reflected in individual security prices. These premiums offer compensation for accepting credit and structure risks associated with individual issues. Explicit quantification and control of risks are at the heart of this investment process. The firm uses proprietary risk exposure analysis to analyze yield curve factors and spread-related factors. For each yield curve and spread factor, the portfolio is very closely matched to the index to ensure that the portfolio earns the same return as the index for any change in interest rates or change in sector spreads. Based on internally generated research, they integrate individual issue selections into the portfolio without disrupting the integrity of the portfolio structure. Holdings are diversified to reduce credit exposure to individual issuers. Eligible investments include securities included in the index, plus those that are their equivalents in terms of credit and structure risks. LBAM's high yield bond management decision-making process begins with a macro-economic framework for determining the appropriate portfolio structure according to defensive versus cyclical industries and appropriate quality orientation (between high BB to low B). Once they have established the overall structure, the firm determines specific industry weights and individual issuer selections. Their research analysts focus on identifying securities that exhibit improving credit fundamentals while avoiding those that experience deterioration in their credit quality. LBAM diversifies holdings to reduce credit exposure to individual issuers. Eligible investments include dollar denominated bonds rated below investment-grade including Rule 144A securities and the full range of structures such as pay-in-kind bonds, interest reset bonds and other instruments that are consistent with high yield investing.

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