Fund Manager, Head of Convertible & Credit Research, Global Convertible Team
Rising inflation has forced policymakers to accelerate the reduction in liquidity which, as David Sugarman - Fund Manager, argues has been responsible for much of the past decade’s advance in asset prices. He suggests investors should be focusing on the wider implications of this change in macroeconomic policy rather than on the future direction – and timescale – of inflation. If surplus liquidity has been a tailwind to asset prices, will a reduction in liquidity be a headwind?
David joined Polar Capital in October 2010 to establish the global convertibles team and is co-manager of the Global Convertible Fund and the Global Absolute Return Fund.
David is an experienced convertible bond specialist, having spent 35 years in the asset class in both investment banking and investment management. Before joining Polar Capital in October 2010 to establish the Convertible team, he was joint CEO of Vicis Capital (UK) Ltd which he joined in 2006 to set up and manage the international convertible portfolio of the New York-based hedge fund. David started his career at Salomon Brothers International and moved to Baii (a subsidiary of BNP Paribas) in 1987, where he first started managing convertibles. He joined Schroders in 1996 and Citigroup in 2000 following the Citi takeover of Schroder Investment Bank.
Stephen McCormick
Stephen joined Polar Capital in October 2010 and is co-manager of the Global Convertible Fund and the Global Absolute Return Fund.
Prior to moving into convertible trading, Stephen was a research analyst at Tucker Anthony. In 1993 he became a partner in Forum Capital Markets, eventually joining Paine Webber in 1994 where he went on to manage their convertible department until 1998. He was a senior member of the convertible sales team at Morgan Stanley before establishing and managing Valmiki Capital Management in 2005. The following year, he moved to Moore Capital where he, as a member of a three-person team, managed a $1bn global long/short equity portfolio before joining Vicis Capital to manage the US convertible bond portfolio in 2008.
David Sugarman
David joined Polar Capital in 2011 and leads the credit and convertible bond research for the Global Convertible Fund.
David began his career at Barclays Capital in London where he set up and ran their US convertible bond proprietary trading book. Here, in addition to trading and managing the portfolio, David was also in charge of all US-based proprietary convertible research. In 2007 he moved to CQS, then a US$7bn multi-asset hedge fund, to co-run their US convertible bond positions. David has also interned as an economic researcher for the United Nations in their Department of Economic and Social Affairs where, during his time, he authored a report on fostering equity market development in emerging economies as part of the agency’s Financing for Development initiative.
