CIBC Alternative Credit Strategy
An actively managed multi-strategy credit solution that can complement a core fixed income portfolio by providing a consistent and diversifying return potential that aims to minimize volatility and interest rate risk.
- Seeks to provide capital growth: aims to generate credit-like returns without increasing credit risk or extending duration.
- Minimize downside risk: aims to reduce the vulnerability to interest rate volatility and credit deterioration relative to a corporate focused portfolio.
- Enhances diversification: access to the full opportunity set across the fixed income universe, offering the potential for enhanced portfolio diversification within a risk-managed framework.
Broad diversification, within a single solution
The CIBC Alternative Credit Strategy encompasses a broad range of investment strategies & fixed income sectors, as well as diversification across investment horizons, instruments & capital structure.
Diversification across asset classes
- Corporate Investment grade
- High yield
- Floating rate loans
- Developed government bonds
- Securitization
- Hybrids
- Preferred shares
Investment instruments
- Interest rate futures
- Credit default swaps
- Cash & equivalents
- Total return swaps
- Loans
- Government bonds
- Floating rate notes
- Preferred shares
- Corporate bonds
- ETFs
Investment horizon
- Long-term valuation
- Short-term sentiment
- Medium-term cycle
Return strategies
- Credit momentum
- Long-short credit
- Leveraged credit
Investment strategies
- Quantitative
- Fundamental
Key features
Benchmark agnostic
Full flexibility to align portfolio to desired outcomes. Thus, the strategy is wholly diversified across sectors, geographies, capital structures and investment vehicles.
Managing interest rate sensitivity
Lower duration credit assets and rate hedging reduces rate sensitivity.
Lower yield volatility of short duration corporate credit
Benefiting from the total return advantage of short duration levered credit with lower correlation to traditional fixed income.
Harvesting return premiums across the global credit cycle
Capitalizing on regional (i.e., North American) and sector valuation divergences allows for greater return generation.
Capitalizing on bottom-up credit research
The strategy will only hold highest conviction positions, back by extensive research and insight. Each decision is supported by the expertise of portfolio managers with a proven track record of generating alpha.
Hedging unwanted risk
Use of derivatives and short-selling strategies that would not be feasible in a long-only portfolio.
Fund details
CIBC Alternative Credit Strategy [Series A]The portfolio management team
Jacques Prévost, CFA
First Vice-President, Global Fixed Income
Jacques Prévost specializes in active corporate bond management applied to both asset-only and asset-liability portfolios. He also oversees a team responsible for quantitative and structured solutions and contributes to the firm’s research specialization model.
Mr. Prévost joined CIBC Asset Management’s predecessor firm in 1999. Prior to his current role he was Vice-President, Fixed Income at the firm. He was also a Director, Fund Manager / Analyst with Scotia Capital Markets and a Manager and Analyst with Reuters. Prior to that, he was a Sales Representative and Trader with First Marathon.
Mr. Prévost holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto. He is also a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Toronto.
Gaurav Dhiman, CFA
Portfolio Manager, Global Fixed Income
Gaurav Dhiman is responsible for corporate bond portfolio management.
Prior to joining CIBC Am in 2018, Mr. Dhiman was a portfolio manager at Cumberland Private Wealth. At Cumberland, he was solely responsible for the management, research and trading of a high net worth fixed income portfolio. Mr. Dhiman previously worked at Aviva Investors as a portfolio manager and BMO Capital Markets as a research analyst.
Mr. Dhiman holds an MBA degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Iowa State University. He is also a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Toronto.
Amer Shreim, Ph.D.
Head of Quantitative Investing, Equities
Amer Shreim is a member of the Portfolio Management and Research Equities Team. Mr. Shreim is responsible for developing and managing quantitative strategies, enhancing portfolio construction, and improving risk management.
Prior to joining CIBC Asset Management in 2017, Dr. Shreim was Director of Risk and Quantitative Analysis for event-driven and multi-strategy funds at BlackRock Inc. He also previously worked as Senior Associate, External Portfolio Management, at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), where he managed the risk of a portfolio of external hedge funds. Previously, he was Senior Manager, Risk Management at RBC Global Asset Management, where he developed systematic trend following strategies.
Dr. Shreim holds a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary and a Master of Science degree in Physics from the American University of Beirut.
Jeremy Kinney, CFA
Associate Portfolio Manager, Global Fixed Income
Jeremy Kinney is a member of the Global Fixed Income team. He contributes to the management of High-Yield portfolios through researching and recommending securities, visiting companies and providing other portfolio construction and management support.
Most recently, Mr. Kinney held the role of Senior High-Yield Credit Analyst at iA Clarington Investments. Prior to that, he was a High-Yield Credit Analyst and Associate Portfolio Manager at Sentry Investments. Mr. Kinney started his career at CIBC in 2001 and held the position of High Yield Credit Analyst, Assistant Vice President at CIBC Asset Management from 2011-2015.
Mr. Kinney holds an MS from the City University of New York and a BA from Dalhousie University. He is also a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Toronto.
Trevor Bateman, CFA, CA
Head of Investment-Grade Research, Global Fixed Income, Credit
Trevor Bateman leads a team of credit analysts who are responsible for all investment-grade fixed income research and contribute to the execution of CIBC Asset Management’s (CAM) ESG activities. Mr. Bateman also covers several sectors in the investment-grade corporate bond universe and engages in idea generation for various portfolios.
Prior to joining CAM in 2014, Mr. Bateman worked at BMO Capital Markets as Director of Corporate Debt Research and at CIBC World Markets as the Executive Director, Fixed Income and Currencies. He began his career as a Senior Accountant with Price Waterhouse.
Mr. Bateman holds a BCom degree from the University of Toronto. He is a CPA, CA, CFA charterholder and a member of CFA Society Toronto. Mr. Bateman also served as the president of CFA Society Toronto in 2005-2006.
Patrick Sauvé
Head of Over-the-Counter (OTC) Trading, Structured Investments, Trading and Business Initiatives
Patrick Sauvé is a member of the Structured Investments and Trading team. Mr. Sauvé oversees all OTC derivatives trading in fixed income and currencies. He also supports the development of OTC instruments related to the firm’s investment strategies.
Prior to joining CIBC Asset Management in 2020, Mr. Sauvé held the role of Head of Fixed Income and FX Sales at BNP Paribas for 10 years. Previously, he has held positions at Deutsche Bank and Desjardins Securities. His industry experience has included roles in trading, sales, and origination and covered both domestic and international fixed income markets.
Mr. Sauvé holds a BBA from the Université du Quebec à Montréal.
Ebad Saif, CFA
Client Portfolio Manager, Global Fixed Income
Ebad Saif is a member of the Client Portfolio Management team covering fixed income. As an integral member of the group, Mr. Saif works with the institutional and retail investment community to deliver solutions that leverage the strengths of the Fixed Income team.
Key resources
CIBC Alternative Credit Strategy Brochure The expertise of CIBC Asset Management
CIBC Asset Management is committed to creating innovative solutions. We’ve developed unique multi-asset investment products based on best-in-class research and a strong tradition of disciplined investment processes.
We believe investment research, guided by a rigorous and consistent process, yields better results and generates value over the long term. Our commitment to research is demonstrated by our large teams in each asset class with a multiple sector or regional focus. These teams are dedicated exclusively to industry research and security-specific idea generation
Terms & Conditions
There can be no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its return and volatility targets. All investment performance is inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the Manager's control. In considering the return and volatility targets, you should bear in mind that such targeted performance and volatility is not a guarantee, projection or prediction and is not indicative of future results of the Fund.
The fund will make significant use of derivatives. The fund may use derivatives such as futures, forwards, swaps, options, covered warrants, debt like securities which have an option component or any combination of these instruments, the value of which is based upon the market price value or level of an index, or the market price or value of a security, currency, commodity or financial instrument. Derivative instruments may be used for the following purposes: to hedge, gain or reduce portfolio exposures. The fund may also use derivatives for currency management purposes. The fund's use of derivatives may introduce leverage into the fund. Leverage occurs when the fund's notional exposure to underlying assets is greater than the amount invested and is an investment technique that can magnify gains and losses. The information does not constitute legal or tax advice.
