28/09/2010 Author: Elana Margulies

BREAKING NEWS: UCM and BlackRock to launch fixed income strategy

UCM Partners, a $1.7bn minority-owned firm focused on fixed-income, has teamed up with BlackRock to launch a Core Fixed Income Strategy, HFMWeek can exclusively reveal. 

In the portfolio, which has $200m under management, UCM will manage the securitised debt portion of the strategy while BlackRock will be responsible for the government and credit portions. 

The strategy, which is currently available as separate managed account mandates and will eventually be launched as a fund structure, is the latest joint offering from both firms. UCM is currently a subadvisor to BlackRock’s Public Private Investment Fund (PPIP), initiated by the U.S. Treasury in 2009, and provides securitised debt investment management services. 

“UCM Partners is thrilled to build on the success of BlackRock’s PPIP fund launched last year by launching a new product with the invaluable participation of such an outstanding organization,” said Greg Parsons, UCM's CEO. “The launch of this Core Fixed Income Strategy allows us to continue to add value for our clients through innovative solutions. UCM looks forward to continuing to grow this unique relationship with BlackRock.” 

Working on UCM's portion of the portfolio, the firm's CIO Jay Menozzi, along with Boris Peresechensky and Vesta Marks, portfolio managers, will be in charge of the offering consisting of mortgage-backed, commercial mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities. 

Before Menozzi joined UCM in 1999, he was managing director of Atlantic Portfolio Analytics and Management. Peresechensky who joined the firm in 2005 was most recently a financial analyst at Bayview Financial Trading Group. Previously Marks, who started at UCM in 2007, was a financial analyst at Independent Bankers Bank of Florida and a portfolio manager at Utendahl Capital Management.