RAFAL LIS ALMOST single-handedly created Poland’s private-debt market. In seven years he built his company, CVI Dom Maklerski sp. z o.o., into a 5.9 billion zloty ($1.5billion) boutique asset manager.
Then, late last year, he feared it would all come crashing down.
The worst day, he says, was Nov. 20. “My knees buckled as I saw the redemption requests,” Lis recalls in an interview at CVI’s Warsaw headquarters.
The flood of requests from investors, which eventually totaled about 20 percent of CVI’s assets, came as a corruption scandal involving a regulator shook Polish markets still reeling from the nation’s biggest corporate default. Lis was forced to put on hold plans to raise hundreds of millions of euros from new global investors and instead raced to sell liquid holdings. The sale of domestic and euro-denominated bonds and exchange-traded funds enabled Lis to meet the redemptions without holding a fire sale of the financial instruments that make up the bulk of his funds—small private- debt securities, specifically tailored by, and for, his firm.
By the next day, the deluge of redemptions started to slow. “I knew we would survive a month,” Lis says. “And by the beginning of December it was all fine.”
LIS’S NOVEMBER SCARE was a rare setback for the holder of the second investment-adviser license issued in Poland after the fall of communism. Returns from the closed-end funds that hold the bulk of CVI’s assets under management aren’t made public, keeping with the norm in Poland. The company’s first open-end mutual fund returned 14.9 percent from inception in April 2016 to the end of 2018. In March, Private Debt Investor magazine in its 2018 awards named CVI the Lower Mid-Market Lender of the Year, Europe, the first time a lender in the Central and Eastern European region had won.
Denne historien er fra April - May 2019-utgaven av Bloomberg Markets.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra April - May 2019-utgaven av Bloomberg Markets.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
See Which Countries Are Falling Behind On Climate Change
Under the Paris Agreement, 190 countries and the European Union pledged to take steps to hold the global temperature rise to less than 2C (3.6F) from preindustrial levels—and preferably 1.5C.
Billionaires Vie for the Future of Brazilian Finance
An escalating battle between two billionaires is upending the financial community in São Paulo, Latin America’s wealthiest city.
Ford Foundation's Darren Walker: ‘We Have to Get Uncomfortable'
DARREN WALKER, 62, disrupted his Wall Street life more than 25 years ago when he left what is now UBS Group AG to volunteer at a school and eventually pursue a career in community development and philanthropy. Since 2013 he’s been at the pinnacle of the philanthropic world as president of the Ford Foundation, created by the family of automaker Henry Ford during the Great Depression to advance human welfare.
Fueling the Ener Transition
I MAY BE BIASED, but some of the most important research and data on the Bloomberg terminal lies in one of its lesser-known functions: {BNEF }
Dig Into Analysts' Estimates for Disruptive Companies
THE PANDEMIC ERA generated a whole wave of disruptive companies as it accelerated the introduction of new products and services in areas including artificial intelligence, digitization, electronic payments, online meeting platforms, and virtual currencies.
Climate Risks Come for Sovereign Credit
FOR YEARS climate scientists have warned about the ferocious wildfires and hurricanes that are now overwhelming many communities. Today alarms are ringing about a related financial danger: risks lurking within government bonds, the biggest part of the global debt market.
Responsible-Investing Pioneer Lydenberg Says ESG Needs An Upgrade
STEVE LYDENBERG’S passion for social change was inspired by anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, consumer boycotts, and the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa. But he didn’t take to the streets. Instead, Lydenberg turned to the world of finance to help catalyze societal change.
Engine No. 1's Grancio: ‘People Will Appreciate an Economic Argument'
ENGINE NO. 1 sent shock waves across corporate America in May when the fledgling investment firm won a boardroom battle with Exxon Mobil Corp., securing three seats on the oil and gas giant’s board after purchasing only about $40 million of its stock.
Find Out Which Companies May Ramp Up Payouts After Covid
AS THE PANDEMIC DISRUPTED business last year, many companies cut or suspended dividends. Which will boost their payouts when economies pick up again?
Get Into the Minds of Central Bankers as They Navigate Shocks
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED how central bankers forecast the impact of shocks on the economy?
