Fixed income manager BlueBay Asset Management has hired Jean-Yves Guibert and Marc Kemp into the firm’s Global Leveraged Finance team.

Based in London, Guibert has joined as a Senior Credit Analyst in High Yield and Kemp as an Institutional Portfolio Manager.
 
Both appointments further strengthen BlueBay’s High Yield team, particularly in European markets coverage and in serving clients. Both individuals bring extensive industry knowledge to the team, with particular experience in generating absolute and relative value trade ideas and in primary and secondary market distribution respectively.
 
Justin Jewell, Co-Head of Global Leveraged Finance Long Only, says: “In normal credit cycles, the period of market stress is usually sharp but short lived and corresponds with worsening economic conditions. This cycle could be very different, as the distortions created by zero interest rate policies and quantitative easing (and their reversal) will likely result in economic and credit cycles that are less closely aligned. We would further argue that this cycle will likely show a lengthier period of spread widening, as defaults are likely to occur over a longer period.
 
“The dynamic is such that individual credit selection is essential in this cycle and investors need to understand that volatility will continue to feature for the foreseeable future. For this reason, the appointment of Jean-Yves and Marc will continue to enhance our sector coverage and our client interactions.”
 
Jean-Yves Guibert joins from BNP Paribas, where he was latterly Head of European High Yield Sector Specialists, covering European TMT and Cable as a sector specialisation. Marc Kemp was previously at JPMorgan, where he was most latterly a Managing Director and Head of European High Yield Sales.