Contact Us
Login
Capabilities
Infrastructure
Our strategies
Our approach
Our portfolio
Our Infrastructure team
Our Infrastructure knowledge hub
Debt Investments
Our strategies
Our approach
Our Debt Investments team
Private Equity
Our portfolio
Sustainable investing
Environment
Social
Governance and reporting
EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation
Advocacy and collaboration
Modern slavery
About us
Our heritage
Our Distinct Ownership
Our people
Our Board
Our Executive Leadership Team
Our purpose
Climate
Workplace leadership
Inclusive workplace
Careers at IFM
Life at IFM
Our offices
News & Insights
Thought leadership
Infrastructure
Debt Investments
Listed Equities
Private Equity
Economic
Corporate
Media centre
Media releases
Media enquiries
Private markets research
Contact Us
Login
Capabilities Debt Investments Our Strategies Diversified Private Credit

Diversified Credit

Conventional fixed-interest markets are highly liquid and relatively efficient. 

By contrast, non-vanilla debt markets – where our Credit team focuses the majority of its attention - can potentially offer return premiums that reflect the complexity of analysing and managing credit risk and lower liquidity.

Explore our thought leadership

The opportunities in Asia-Pacific private credit

A rising middle class and growth expected to outpace other developed economies means Asia-Pacific could offer opportunities for private credit investors wishing to expand exposure beyond traditional markets.

Learn more

Targeting risk-adjusted value

Our approach combines rigorous bottom-up credit analysis with top-down macro elements and a strong focus on risk. This is well suited to our specialisation in lower liquidity credit, including special situations, structured and private debt, where we aim to extract risk-adjusted value.

We actively seek value and look for attractive market mispricing or illiquidity premiums. 

Deals are sourced in both primary and secondary markets and are screened to assess potential returns, risk factors and how they fit within the existing portfolio. All investments require formal credit approval. Portfolio positions are actively monitored at the macro and individual asset level.

Our strategic approach

IFM Investors has been active in the diversified credit market for over 25 years. We are experts in constructing credit-based investment solutions that aim to deliver a significant premium with lower volatility compared to traditional fixed income and credit strategies.

1

Diverse insights and experience

2

Targeting risk-adjusted value

3

Diligence and vigilance

Our strategies

By investing in a broad range of credit opportunities, we seek to provide access to a highly diversified pool of debt assets that spans both the public and private markets and can potentially deliver a premium to traditional fixed interest. We seek to exploit market opportunities and allocate to less understood market segments, taking advantage of mispriced credit and liquidity risk. 

We offer traditional direct lending and private credit strategies that aim to generate high income-based returns with low volatility by lending to a diverse range of sub-investment grade borrowers across the Asia-Pacific region. We target lending to mid-market corporate, asset-backed and real asset debt, aiming to provide access to opportunities that are not accessible through public fixed interest markets.

We aim to generate strong risk-adjusted returns by allocating to specialty finance opportunities in consumer, micro small business credit, asset-based lending, trade finance and cashflow monetisation, aircraft, shipping and other equipment leasing opportunities combined with complex structuring to manage credit and liquidity risk.

We take a highly opportunistic approach to credit investing that seeks to capture strong risk-adjusted returns available from lending to high-yield and speculative grade borrowers. Our approach seeks to fill capital and funding gaps that develop as a result of macro-economic shocks, evolving industry and market dynamics or idiosyncratic issues specific to a borrower or project. We aim to provide debt-based capital solution via highly flexible structures to borrowers facing expansionary or contractionary situations. Borrowers with strong long-term fundamentals can benefit from funding stability and certainty that is less dilutive than equity capital.

The private debt opportunity

Hiran Wanigasekera, Co-head of APAC Diversified Credit, and Alex Joiner, Chief Economist, unpack the macro landscape and discuss what makes private debt a compelling allocation in today’s uncertain environment.

Optimising for uncertainty: Private debt's role in institutional investor portfolios

Our Chief Economist Alex Joiner examines the strategic role of private credit within institutional portfolios, with a particular focus on its contribution to portfolio defensiveness, diversification and robustness.

Download white paper

Intro

Our learnings from 25 years of private credit markets

Hiran Wanigasekera and Lillian Nunez, Co-Heads of Australian Diversified Credit

 

For more than 25 years, we’ve been investing across private credit markets in Australia, seeking to extract return premiums that reflect the complexity of analysing and managing credit risk and lower liquidity. Here are six key lessons we’ve distilled that, we believe, give us an edge when it comes to accessing opportunities in credit markets.

Learn more

Learning 1

Be flexible

Lillian Nunez, Co-Head of Australian Diversified Credit

 

Our experience in private credit has taught us that a tailored approach, taking account of individual borrower’s needs, can be more successful – and more profitable. For our investors too, flexibility is key. Watch this video to find out why.  

Learn more

Learning 2

Good borrowers are fundamental

Hiran Wanigasekera, Co-Head of Australian Diversified Credit


One of our fundamental rules as a provider of credit is that we endeavour to lend to “good borrowers”. But, what defines a good borrower? There are four critical traits. Watch to learn more. 

Learn more

Learning 3

Look to the ‘left field’

Lillian Nunez, Co-Head of Australian Diversified Credit


We like to take on different opportunities because the complexity they bring can add a premium benefit to the return. But taking on a difficult transaction needs to deliver for our investors. Watch to learn more. 

Learn more

Learning 4

Be prepared

Hiran Wanigasekera, Co-Head of Australian Diversified Credit


When lending to any organization, there is always the risk it won’t be able to execute on its business plan. The most critical task for a credit investor is to avoid capital losses. Debt covenants and review mechanisms are critical to structuring deals, especially those that present as more challenging and complex. Watch to learn how we navigate this. 

Learn more

Learning 5

The market is not always right

Lillian Nunez, Co-Head of Australian Diversified Credit


We believe it’s important that we are willing to make contrarian or opportunistic calls. So the approach we take to private credit markets is very different to the prevailing mindset you might find in public and traded markets. Watch this video to learn more.

Learn more

Learning 6

Valuing people

Hiran Wanigasekera, Co-Head of Australian Diversified Credit


One of the common threads through all the lessons we’ve learned over more than 25 years as specialist private credit investor is the importance of people. Watch the final episode of our learning series as we explain valuing people – our own, our clients and the people at the businesses to whom we lend – is our most important learning.  

Learn more

Watch Next

We use essential cookies to make our website work efficiently.

We would also like to set performance/analytics cookies that help us make improvements by measuring how you use the website. These will be set only if you accept below. To learn more about our use of cookies, visit our Privacy Notice.

Privacy policy