Real Asset Management (RAM) has appointed James Chapman as a portfolio manager on its private credit funds.
Reporting to director and head of fixed income Michael Frearson, Chapman will lead the management of its Real Income Fund.
This aims to provide investors with an enhanced income stream with a target return of outperforming the Reserve Bank of Australia cash rate by 4 per cent. This is achieved by investing in Australian residential mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities to prioritise capital stability and regular yield for investors.
Chapman joins from Aura Funds Management where he worked for six years, including four years in the private credit team actively involved in building out the portfolio and developing funding structures and relationships with non-bank lenders.
Aura offers private equity, private credit, multi-asset and venture capital solutions for private and high-net-worth clients with $1.5 billion in funds under management and administration.
RAM chief executive Scott Kelly said: “I’m pleased to welcome James at this opportune time to further strengthen our credit capabilities and continue delivering value for our investors.”
RAM specialises in real estate, private credit, private equity and wealth management, and has $5 billion in assets under management and 15 investment strategies.
Earlier this month, Money Management covered the difficulties in hiring staff in private markets as fund managers look to diversify their product mix into alternatives.
With the asset class in its infancy compared to equities and bonds, it can be difficult to recruit sufficiently experienced talents. In areas such as private credit, hires are more likely to come from investment banks than from other rival managers.
Matt McGilton, managing director at Kaizen Recruitment, said: “It used to be challenging to hire in the private credit space, it was in a semi-embryonic state. We mostly used to hire from banks which had large property credit teams, but now the space is building out and there is a larger talent pool.
“Private credit is flying. We are seeing lots of demand to hire in that area,” said Mischa Bennett, managing director at Capital Executive Search. “But it’s not as easy to hire in those areas as not many people have that debt experience. We usually end up finding people from an investment bank.”
