Robert Cohen, head of DoubleLine’s Global Development Credit team, analyzes private credit, including its transient venture beyond middle-market lending into large-borrower underwriting during the pandemic-ushered corporate capital vacuum and the decline of that timely trade in the wake of the full recovery of the syndicated loan and high yield bond markets. In 2020-2023, private credit afforded asset managers and other lenders “an opportunity to generate substantial alpha beyond the riskiness of these credits,” he notes. “In fact, Doubleline participated in this. We made loans to companies – in a couple of cases, companies that were previously investment grade credits that were downgraded to below investment grade, companies which had a difficult time accessing capital because the markets were shut down.” Mr. Cohen shares his perspectives in a July 18, 2024, interview, with DoubleLine Product Specialist Chris Stegmann.
Mr. Cohen joined DoubleLine in 2012 and serves as Director of Global Developed Credit. In this role, he oversees the firm’s corporate credit team and is the lead portfolio manager for investment grade, high yield and leveraged loan credit strategies. Mr. Cohen also developed DoubleLine’s leveraged finance investment platform, which is utilized across closed-end fund, floating-rate, CLO and multi-sector fixed-income strategies. In addition, he is a permanent member of the Fixed Income Asset Allocation Committee. Mr. Cohen has over 30 years of experience in corporate credit investing. Prior to joining DoubleLine, he held investment roles at West Gate Horizons Advisors, ING Capital Advisors, Union Bank and Bank of Montreal. Mr. Cohen holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is a CFA® charterholder.
