CIS Asset Management

Structured Credit Investments

“We don't just scratch the surface; we are going into the depth for you.”
CIS Asset Management is an asset management boutique in the area of structured credit products and is characterized in particular by its deep proprietary analysis.
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Organization

CIS Asset Management (Deutschland) GmbH is specialised in the management of illiquid credit products and the selection of total return strategies. The company employs a team of highly motivated individuals with exceptional qualifications. The team constantly challenges the status quo to discover new investment opportunities. The company actively monitors the performance of its investment portfolios, which include complex liquid and illiquid strategies. The company makes independent and transparent investment decisions based on thorough, objective analyses.
CIS Asset Management (Deutschland) GmbH is granted by the regulatory agency BaFin the following permissions (www.bafin.de):

• Admission for investment brokering granted on 01.11.2007 
(Sec. 2 sentence 2 No. 4 WpIG)
• Permission for contract broking granted on 19.11.2008 (Sec. 2 sentence 2 No. 5 WpIG)
• Admission for investment advisory granted on 19.11.2008 (Sec. 2 sentence 2 No. 3 WpIG)

• Admission for financial portfolio management granted on 01.06.2010 (Sec. 2 sentence 2 No. 9 WpIG)
• Admission for proprietary transactions granted on 03.09.2012(Sec. 15 sentence 3 WpIG)

CIS Asset Management (Deutschland) GmbH is assigned to EdW - Entschädigungseinrichtung der Wertpapierhandelsunternehmen (www.e-d-w.de).
CIS Asset Management (Deutschland) GmbH was founded as a corporation (corp. / AG) in Frankfurt in June 2007 and rebranded as a limited liability company (LLC / GmbH) in 2010. The company moved its headquarters to Eschborn in July 2012 and has currently around 10 employees.

Beschreibung: CLOs

Track Record

CIS Asset Management manages credit investments since its foundation in July 2007. It holds positions which are predominantly in equity tranches of CLOs (Collateralized Loan Obligations), which themselves are collateralized mainly by first-lien senior secured levered loans. The track record is calculated on the basis of positions held, using the purchase and liquidation values accordingly. These investments were selected by our proprietary and highly advanced selection process. The average gross return between 2007 and Q2 2024 accounts for 10.31% p.a.. Compartment Taunus track record decreased in 2024 Q1 due of an early CLO redemption. The track record should stabilize given new CLO investments.
CIS Track Record of CLO 1.0 (30.06.2007 - 28.02.2019)
CLO 1.0 = CLOs issued before the Great Financial Crisis (until 2010).
CIS TRACK RECORD VON CLO 2.0 (31.03.2019 – 30.06.2024)
CLO 2.0 = CLOs issued after the Great Financial Crisis (after 2010).
Performance in USD. Positive results are no guarantee for future performance. The underlying assets are volatile and investments may suffer losses or the loss of all capital invested.

Research

At CIS, we are very research-focused and attach great importance to our own analysis and data base. Our approach dates back to 1999. We learned that only conscious dealing with risks of any kind - especially in the credit sector - requires a high degree of monitoring, reassessment as well as a clearly defined risk management process.
Different levels of analysis are done prior to any investment. We are continuously revising our proprietary tools in order to adjust to the current market conditions as well developing new Alpha indices. Hence, it has to be mentioned that the following diagram just depicts a snapshot of our analyses.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT MODEL
The Portfolio Management Model is the internal master tool for CIS, as it combines the features of all other below described analysis models. Its purpose is to control and monitor special key indicators of a portfolio as well as to enable us structuring and ramping-up new portfolios.
With the Portfolio Management Model, one can validate for instance the effect of a new investment on the overall portfolio level.
It also serves as a risk management tool on a portfolio basis in order to be able to model various scenarios. Further, this tool is used to prepare different investor-specific reports.
EVALUATION MODEL
PEER GROUP ANALYSIS
With the help of the Evaluation Model one can model a CLO with all its subtleties, such as the cost and fee structure as well as the various concentration limits under ceteris paribus assumptions.
The model is used to forecast future cash flows and to determine their sustainability.
Both market data and various manager-specific Alpha indicators serve as input indicators.
The Peer Group Analysis makes it possible to compare the various Manager Signatures or their Alpha components (risk and performance indicators) both against market data and against each other, manager against manager and with other internally defined universes.
It is possible to set a weighting for individual indicators, depending on individual preferences, and to derive an internal ranking accordingly.
MANAGER SIGNATURE
One proprietary analysis tool is called Manager Signature, in which different Alpha indicators (both risk and performance indicators) are analysed on a monthly basis.
The cleaned data from the monthly trustee reports serve as input data (please see Proprietary Data Base).
CIS maintains of each evaluated manager on average 4 to 6 of those Manager Signatures with a minimum history of 60 months. The manager-specific indicators can often be traced back to the period prior the Great Financial Crisis.
The purpose of the Manager Signatures is to quantitatively process and understand the behaviour of a CLO manager or his team over the maximum period of time.
PROPRIETARY DATA BASE
The CIS Proprietary Data Base forms the core of each of our analyses. On the one hand, it includes the raw data from monthly trustee reports, the usually quarterly available payment reports (Note Valuation Reports) and, on the other hand, indenture and offering memorandum of each CLO.
For the later analysis, raw data is elaborately cleaned up in various steps and brought into a uniform format. As raw data are often error-prone, they are always checked for plausibility, mathematical logic and completeness, partly automatically but also manually.

Products

CLO Alpha I S.A. – Compartment Taunus
CLO Alpha I S.A. is a securitization company established in Luxembourg, unregulated and not available for public distribution. Compartment Taunus is intended for institutional clients with credit experience. Compartment Taunus invests in junior CLO tranches and may be purchased with a minimum of $250.000.
Segregated Managed Account
Every institutional investor who wants to invest via a segregated account is welcome. We are able to ramp up, take over and liquidate portfolios from CLO AAA to CLO equity tranches.
More information

Services

Portfolio Management
This combines all services into one product. We offer portfolio management of CLO portfolios from the AAA to the CLO equity tranche. Our fees are scaled taking complexity, size as well as number of positions into account. For investment grade rated tranches (without combo notes) our fees are competitive and need not to be adjusted in case of tightening spreads. To invest successfully in sub-investment grade CLO tranches or in the unrated CLO equity tranche, a higher effort is required to analyse the Alpha components. This is mirrored by higher fees.
Portfolio Liquidation
We also offer this service at a fixed price subject to not managing the portfolio but just advising on the liquidation. If we are actively involved, we charge a transaction fee per sold position.
Take-over of a Portfolio
Subject to complexity (monitoring) we will charge a flat fee for the portion of the old portfolio, a transaction fee for transactions and, if we are mandated to continue constructing the portfolio, a portfolio management fee for this part of the portfolio.
Please refer to the following website for further services provided by the CIS-Group.
cisholding.ch

News

  • CIS Newsletter – June 2024

    Given the carry obtained within the asset class, the higher-for-longer rates narrative is encouraging for CLOs as the likelihood of Fed cuts is pushed out. [...]

  • CIS Newsletter – July 2024

    The CLO market and floating rate market are supported by higher for longer rates and higher spreads in the US. [...]

  • CIS Newsletter – August 2024

    CLO primary activity will see some shift as investors look towards price discovery. CLO spreads are also expected to widen from the recent lows. [...]

  • CLOs sind auf dem Weg zu einem neuen Rekordjahr

    Der Ruf von CLOs hat durch die Finanzkrise 2008 etwas gelitten und ist per se auf ein Missverständnis und die Verwechslung von CLOs mit CDO-Untergruppen, was für Collateralized Debt Obligations steht, zurückzuführen.  [...]

  • Was gute und weniger gute CLO-Manager unterscheidet

    Die Loan-Portfolios von Collateralized Loan Obligations werden aktiv bewirtschaftet. Das kann Investoren Alpha einbringen – wenn sie den richtigen Manager erwischen. [...]

  • CIS bei Pro BoutiquenFonds: Performance von clos im vergleich zu anderen anlageklassen

  • CIS in TiAM Fundresearch: CLO-Markt: Neue attraktive Opportunitäten

    The CLO equity arbitrage is expected to improve on the back of early signs of growing loan pipeline and tightening CLO liability spreads. There is still value in long dated secondary [...]

  • CIS im Private Banking Magazin: Wie haben Collateralized Loan Obligations 2022 die Volatilität überstanden?

    Die geopolitische Lage, Inflationsängste und die Notenbankpolitik der Zentralbanken haben 2022 die Finanzmärkte belastet. Wie haben Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLO) performt? [...]

  • CIS bei FUNDRESEARCH: CLOs und steigende Zinsen – was sagen die Daten?

    Während die Fed im Oktober keine geplante Sitzung hatte, sorgten die vergleichsweise starken Wirtschaftsdaten und die relativ hohen Inflationszahlen [...]

  • CIS im Private Banking Magazin: Der CLO-MARKT - Von Libor ZU SOFR

    Der US-Dollar-Libor war der beliebteste globale Vergleichsmaßstab (Benchmark) für kurzfristige Zinssätze und repräsentiert Finanzkontrakte und Wertpapiere in Höhe von 200 Billionen US-Dollar. [...]

  • Creditflux Manager Awards 2021: CIS takes CLO fund prize

    Upstart CLO managers overtook more experienced rivals at last year’s Creditflux Manager Awards,
    but this time around shared the prizes with large and experienced champions like CSAM and PGIM.

  • Creditflux Manager Awards 2021: Compartment Taunus as “Best CLO Fund”

    CIS is proud to announce that our fund CLO Alpha Compartment Taunus is awarded as the "Best CLO fund" at the Creditflux Manager Awards 2021.

  • CIS IN CREDITFLUX: European CLOs - Tight spreads are increasing demand for CLO equity, so deals are oversubscribed

    Bartsch says that, historically, CLOs that priced in tight-spread [...]

  • CIS IN CITYWIRE: PAAVO BARTSCH, CIS ASSET MANAGEMENT

    Ein niedriger Ölpreis fungiert als Entlastung für Verbraucher, das macht sich auch bei unseren Investitionen bemerkbar. CIS ist seit 2007 am Markt und investiert hauptsächlich in CLO Equity. Wir achten auf eine hohe Diversifikation im zugrundeliegenden Loan-Portfolio mit […]

  • CIS IN CREDITFLUX: MOVING FAST PAYS OFF FOR HEDGE FUNDS

    CLO Alpha Compartment Taunus, a CLO fund managed by CIS Asset Management, took second spot in our rankings with 21.80% returns. The firm focuses on niche CLO equity with an emphasis on US CLOs. Inès Bartsch, owner and [...]

  • CIS in TiAM Fundresearch: CLO-Markt: Frische Eindrücke aus den USA

    CIS Asset Management hat Anfang März eine US-Geschäftsreise mit rund 20 Terminen durchgeführt. Erkenntnisse durch die Tour: Die Ausfallraten bei Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) sind gering, der Markt wächst. [...]

  • CIS bei Pro BoutiquenFonds: Mehr als 5.200 Unternehmenskredite

    CLOs sind strukturierte Finanzinstrumente, die auf der Vermögensseite aus einem aktiv bewirtschafteten Portfolio von Unternehmenskrediten bestehen. Die Finanzierungsseite ist je nach Risikoprofil in geratete Tranchen, regulär von AAA bis BB strukturiert. [...]
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