Profile: Havens goes for high yield as an arb complement

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Profile: Havens goes for high yield as an arb complement

Havens Advisors’ hedge funds focus on merger arbitrage, high-yield bonds and distressed debt. Helen Avery speaks to founder Nancy Havens about the opportunities in high-yield.

Nancy Havens, Havens Advisors

"We’re in the junk bond market every day and that gives us a wonderful view on what the financing market looks like for any private equity deal that would cross our radar" Nancy Havens, Havens Advisors

Being in the three areas of merger arbitrage, distressed debt and high-yield bonds works well for Havens Advisors, an event-driven hedge fund shop in New York. "We’re in the junk bond market every day and that gives us a wonderful view on what the financing market looks like for any private equity deal that would cross our radar on the merger arbitrage side," says Nancy Havens, founder of Havens Advisors. The distressed sector of the market, however, has recently proved challenging for hedge funds. It is a crowded hedge fund space, and there have been few new opportunities. Havens says: "The default rates are just too low, which shows you again how much liquidity there is in the market." The only real opportunities to be found in the sector have been in the form of late-stage bankruptcies. "They were old distressed opportunities like Enron and Adelphia.

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