2009 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds: Josh Levine
08-04-2009 | Source: The 20 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds
Josh Levine
Senior Vice President, Permal Group Inc.
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Age: 35
Education: B.A. International Affairs, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; M.I.A. International Economic Policy, Columbia University, New York, NY
Mentors: Steve Houston, Global Head of Alternative Investments, Merrill Lynch; Rene Nunez, Vice Chairman, Texas State Board of Education; Casey Jones, President Emeritus, SACRS (State Association of County Retirement System)
Josh Levine joined Permal Group in 2007 to help develop the institutional vision of the company. Levine has quadrupled the institutional client base of the alternative asset management firm, growing it to include sovereign wealth funds, public funds, Taft Hartley funds, foundations and endowments.
His responsibilities include managing the institutional team, maintaining relations with consultants, executing investment mandates and ensuring that strategies continue to meet clients’ needs. During the credit crisis, Levine successfully managed clients’ expectations, steering the business through the period, with his team experiencing only minimal investor redemptions. “Our veteran investment team, led by CEO Isaac Souede, navigated the markets well and the portfolios were well constructed before the disaster hit. One of our great advantages has always been our liquidity profile, with our funds being far more liquid than many other fund-of-hedge funds” Levine says.
In addition, Levine took the additional steps of proactively communicating with clients, as much or as little as required. “We are firm believers in close client contact. Throughout the period we have maintained all our lines of communications with clients, paying extra attention to meet their needs due to the atypical market” says Levine.
Levine notes the challenges of maintaining investor confidence during the downturn, but believes Permal has been relatively well positioned. “It was a challenge to maintain well constructed portfolios in such markets. We had a big picture in terms of asset allocation and due diligence early on and had minimized credit exposures by June 2007. Therefore our investors were able to maintain the liquidity profiles that they were looking for.”
Carlos Valle, retired managing director for Merrill Lynch notes Levine’s ability to apply technical advice to the client’s benefit, “his true acumen comes from taking technical knowledge and understanding how to put it to work for clients in the context of the many other stresses associated with his client’s individual situation.”
Despite the current appearance of stabilization in the markets, Levine still has a tough job ahead. “[We] need to cut through the misperceptions in the market caused by the media. Breaking through the noise and bringing people back to the fundamentals of the market is a challenge for the industry. People are understandably shaken by what they have been through over the past few months.”
However, Levine is optimistic about the future of his sector, “this year will be a year of stabilization. The sector has thinned-out, but we are already very encouraged by recent inflows. The sector is evolving and we are likely to see some changes, with greater transparency and reporting, and this is an environment that augurs well for Permal” says Levine.
Following are links to the profiles of each of this year’s Stars:
To download a PDF of the Global Hedge Fund Leadership Report, which also includes an exclusive interview with John Paulson, please click here.
