Global investment manager Loomis, Sayles & Company has expanded its mortgage and structured finance investment team to include European asset-backed securities (ABS) investment capabilities with the hire of two portfolio managers – Sébastien Andre and Alexandre Boulinguez. 

Andre and Boulinguez have joined the French branch of Loomis Sayles (Netherlands), a Loomis Sayles subsidiary, and hail from Ostrum Asset Management (Ostrum). Both Loomis Sayles and Ostrum are affiliates of Natixis Investment Managers (NIM). At Ostrum, they were structured credit investment fund managers, responsible for European ABS, collateralized loan obligation (CLO) and covered bond investments.

Andre, prior to Ostrum, was an ABS fund manager and analyst at NIM. Previously, he was an ABS quantitative and surveillance analyst at IXIS Asset Management, responsible for credit analysis of European ABS and CLO investments. Before that, he was a credit risk manager at CDC IXIS Asset Management Advisors. He began his career as a business analyst at Carat France.

Boulinguez, prior to Ostrum, was a distressed asset manager and trader at Crédit Agricole’s corporate and investment bank, responsible for managing ABS, CLO and collateralized debt obligation portfolios. Prior to that, he was a front office assistant at IXIS Asset Management.

The firm’s mortgage and structured finance team, led by Alessandro Pagani, oversees US$42 billion in securitized assets and is responsible for directly managing client assets as well as providing securitized sector research and trading for the broader firm.

Andre and Boulinguez, who report to Pagani, will continue to manage two European ABS strategies, with combined assets of €215 million (US$235.4 million), that have transferred to Loomis Sayles as part of this transition.

“Andre and Boulinguez’s experience and existing strategies complement our team well,” Pagani notes. “We believe that combining their talents, with access to our investment research, infrastructure and trading resources, have the potential to deliver excellent value to investors.”