Asset Management Finance (AMF) has made a passive minority investment in Brigade Capital Management (Brigade), a New York based manager of credit strategies.

Brigade is an SEC-registered investment advisor whose products include long/short credit, distressed debt and traditional high yield.  Founded in 2007, Brigade now has 51 employees managing USD7.9 billion of assets across four credit strategies.  

Don Morgan, Managing Partner, and Pat Kelly, President and COO, founded Brigade with the objective of providing unique credit-oriented portfolios, both hedged and long-only, to institutional investors. The investment by AMF will help facilitate the continued institutionalisation of the firm and assist in attracting and retaining key professionals.

"We are very excited about AMF's minority owner investment in Brigade as it provides us with additional capital to fulfil certain strategic initiatives," says Morgan. "Additionally, access to AMF's deep industry knowledge and global resources will help position Brigade for continued success."

The transaction is AMF's 21st investment, and its seventh since December 2009.  Including its stake in Brigade, AMF has committed over USD750 million of capital to asset managers that collectively manage over USD70 billion of assets. AMF's investment in Brigade furthers its objective of investing in a diversified portfolio of high quality investment managers.  

John McAvoy, President of AMF, says: "Through the leadership of Don Morgan and Pat Kelly, Brigade, we believe, has become one of the preeminent credit managers with a highly sophisticated proprietary investment platform, making it an important addition to our portfolio.

"This deal, along with other recent investments, has significantly raised our visibility in the alternative manager space. Our goal is to have a balanced portfolio of minority stakes in traditional and alternative managers. Our recent investments have accomplished that objective. We look forward to a successful relationship with Brigade."