Triet Nguyen joined Saybrook Capital LLC in late January as a managing director to help develop and run a high-yield municipal bond hedge fund, just two years after founding the independent fixed-income research firm Axios Advisors LLC.
Nguyen said he will no longer be involved in the day-to-day management of the Framingham, Mass.-based Axios and has stepped down as the company's president. Frank Plumley, a former Standard & Poor's telecommunications analyst who joined Axios shortly after its founding in early 2002, will serve as president and managing partner.
Saybrook plans in the next couple of months to launch the fund, which will be one of the first of its kind designed to produce high after-tax income by investing in high-yielding municipal bonds and implementing leveraging and hedging strategies, Nguyen said in a telephone interview Friday.
"Saybrook's dedication to the high-yield municipal sector and depth of expertise in distressed securities is quite unique," Nguyen said in a release announcing his joining Saybrook. The Santa Monica-based investment bank, which also provides financial advisory services and capital management focusing on niche markets, currently operates two municipal bond funds designed to invest in distressed and even defaulted municipal bonds.
Nguyen had initially planned to launch a similar muni bond hedge fund for Axios, but on Friday said he had joined Saybrook after learning the firm had similar plans.
Axios provides subscription-based credit research to investment advisers and private asset managers and maintains no broker-dealer affiliation but does manage some separate accounts for high-net-worth investors.
Nguyen will co-manage the new hedge fund at Saybrook with Jeff Wilson and Jon Schotz, a founding partner of Saybrook.
"Nguyen brings to the firm a successful track record of designing, marketing and managing a wide variety of mutual fund portfolios, specializing in municipal and corporate high-yield securities," Saybrook said. He previously managed high-yield corporate and municipal bond portfolios for John Hancock Investments and Putnam Investments.
"Now that the credit cycle has changed, the time is right for us to capture the many attractive credit turnaround situations in the municipal marketplace," Nguyen said in the release. "With interest rates just off of a 40-year low, investors will be seeking high tax-exempt income."
Unlike the many investment-grade muni bond hedge funds that have been launched in recent years, the Saybrook fund will be less reliant on leverage to boost its returns because its higher-yielding bonds will be less interest rate sensitive, Nguyen said on Friday.
Saybrook's experience in the municipal bond market extends beyond just capital management, having represented various parties in some high-profile bankruptcy workouts, including that of Orange County, Calif., in 1994, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in 2001, and United Airlines in 2002.
The firm also manages two real estate funds -- Saybrook Community Capital, which provides capital to large homebuilders for the acquisition and development of residential land, and Pacific CityHome, which offers homebuilders capital to develop quality median-priced urban homes.
