Mark Holman, founding partner and CEO of TwentyFour Asset Management, is bringing his fixed-income shop across the pond by powering its first U.S. fund.

Mark Holman TwentyFour Asset Management TwentyFour Asset Management

The American Beacon TwentyFour Strategic Income Fund launches today in partnership with Irving-based subadvised shop, American Beacon. TwentyFour will serve as the fund's subadvisor and American Beacon, the fund's advisor, will handle sales and distribution. MFWire initially reported last month on the American Beacon-TwentyFour team up.

According to Holman, TwentyFour's multi-sector bond strategy, which launched in the UK in 2010, has been one of its most successful, and they knew that it was the strategy they'd bring to the U.S. market.

"We've got a lot of confidence from our performance in Europe, but wanted to wait until the time was right," Holman tells MFWire.

With the fund now having an extended track record and global asset allocators asking for a U.S. version of the strategy, Holman felt confident that the timing was right for an expansion.

Another key factor that influenced the decision was that the firm now has some on-the-ground presence in the U.S. through their owners, Vontobel Asset Management. In March 2015, Vontobel Asset Management, a division of the Zurich-based bank, acquired a 60-percent stake in TwentyFour.

The fund offers less domestic exposure than other multi-sector bonds, and slightly more UK and European exposure.

When shopping for partners for the strategy's stateside debut, Chris Walsh, head of U.S. sales for TwentyFour, says the team was looking for a distribution powerhouse. They reached out to 26 potential partners, and ultimately settled on American Beacon because the firm's vision provided the best cultural fit.

"It was also important to us that our partner didn't already have competing products in the space," explains Holman.

London-based TwentyFour, which Holman calls the "European DoubleLine," launched in 2008, right in the thick of the financial crisis. Today, it has 50 employees, including 21 investment professionals, focusing exclusively on fixed-income strategies. The firm manages $11 billion in AUM across asset-backed securities, multi-sector bond, and outcome-driven strategies.  

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