Converium Capital, a hedge fund firm founded by former Fir Tree partners Aaron Stern, and Elliot Ruda, and ex-Clarke executive Michael Rapps in 2021, is sticking with its bet on El Salvador bonds, despite the debt posting a 180% return over the past year, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Converium Capital, a hedge fund firm founded by former Fir Tree partners Aaron Stern, and Elliot Ruda, and ex-Clarke executive Michael Rapps in 2021, is sticking with its bet on El Salvador bonds, despite the debt posting a 180% return over the past year, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites Nadir Cura, an investment analyst at Converium, as revealing that while most of Wall Street shunned the country on concerns over President Nabob Bukele's "obsession" with bitcoin, the Montreal-based firm built a bond position in the belief that those fears were "overblown". 

And with Bukele having shown himself to be more fiscally responsible than leaders of some other developing nations, Converium, which managed around $345 million at the end of February, according to the latest regulatory filings, sees more value to come.

“El Salvador still offers attractive value when compared to other stressed EM sovereigns, many of which are struggling with substantially larger fiscal deficits and external funding gaps,” Cura said in an interview.