D.E. Shaw eyes credit opportunities with latest multi-strategy Alkali launch

^{By Hugh Leask}

Multi-strategy quantitative hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw is raising money for a new investment strategy which will look to capitalize on less liquid credit and credit-related opportunities across private and public markets.

The D.E. Shaw Alkali Fund VI is the latest in the long-running firm’s Alkali series and will be managed by the firm’s Private Credit investment team, in close collaboration with its other public credit, asset-backed credit teams.

Managing directors Rich McKinney, Marianna Fassinotti, and Seth Charnow will co-manage the multi-strategy fund’s portfolio, which will include corporate debt, structured credit and synthetic securitization and litigation investments.

The firm declined to comment on the matter, citing Securities and Exchange Commission marketing regulations.

Alkali strategy gains momentum

First unveiled in 2012, the Alkali series widened the firm’s scope by aiming to capitalize on a broader range of credit opportunities, often with longer-term investment horizons, using closed-ended capital-call structures to tap into an evolving market landscape.

The previous Alkali launch, Alkali Fund V, targeted mainly stressed and distressed assets, financings, and special situations opportunities, with investment horizons of up to five years. That strategy raised some $1 billion in capital commitments in 2021, including more than $100 million from D.E. Shaw’s own entities, principals, and employees, and $450 million from external investors that earlier invested in previous Alkali funds.

In February, D.E. Shaw – which now has more than $60 billion in assets under management – raised $1.1 billion in combined commitments for two new private markets-focused strategies, the D. E. Shaw Voltaic Fund and the D. E. Shaw Diopter Fund.

The two strategies form part of D.E. Shaw’s ongoing expansion into private strategies, with Voltaic being the firm’s first standalone fund dedicated to private equity investments.

The Alkali funds, together with D. E. Shaw Diopter Fund, form the D. E. Shaw group’s private credit fund platform, which has more than $3 billion in invested and committed capital as of January this year.

_{This article, “D.E. Shaw eyes credit opportunities with latest multi-strategy Alkali launch,” was originally published on September 12th, 2023 on Alternatives Watch and is republished here with permission from BMV Digital, Inc.}