First Eagle Continues to Build out New High Yield Municipal Credit Team with Key Hire

Firm adds industry veteran Bryce Pickering as Head of High Yield Municipal Credit Trading

NEW YORK, November 15, 2023 — First Eagle Investments (“First Eagle”) today announced the hiring of Bryce Pickering as Head of High Yield Municipal Credit Trading. Pickering will be responsible for the trading activity across the High Yield Municipal Credit team’s strategies when he joins First Eagle in the coming weeks. Pickering is the newest hire for the team, joining Head and Chief Investment Officer John Miller (who starts on January 2, 2024) and Chief Operating Officer Carl Katerndahl.

Established in October 2023, the High Yield Municipal Credit team broadens the range of differentiated investment solutions First Eagle provides clients alongside the offerings of its Global Value, Small Cap, First Eagle Alternative Credit and Napier Park teams. First Eagle intends to make the new capability available to mass-affluent and high-net-worth retail investors and institutions in the US through a variety of product structures, including mutual funds, closed-end funds and separately managed accounts. As previously announced, the First Eagle High Yield Municipal Fund and the First Eagle Short Duration High Yield Municipal Fund will be the first two vehicles managed by the High Yield Municipal Credit team and will be effective January 2, 2024.¹

“It’s been my experience that talent attracts talent. We are building a superb high yield muni capability at First Eagle, and I am thrilled that someone of Bryce’s exceptional caliber has elected to join us,” said First Eagle President and Chief Executive Officer Mehdi Mahmud. “We are excited to begin offering the team’s strategies in the marketplace early next year. The unique risk/return characteristics of municipal bonds are an important part of the investment toolkit for all types of retail and institutional investors, and particularly for the financial advisors we serve.”

Pickering brings extensive municipal credit market experience to his role as Head of High Yield Municipal Credit Trading at First Eagle. Most recently, he headed municipal debt trading at Barclays Capital, which he joined in 2019. His team of eight traders and two analysts was among the industry leaders by customer order flow and also traded the firm’s proprietary positions, while Pickering himself was consistently ranked among the top traders by key industry surveys and publications. He spent the previous 18 years at Citigroup, where he focused on various municipal credit sectors, including healthcare, higher education, infrastructure, lifecare and project finance. Pickering joined Citi in 2001 as part of the firm’s extensive campus analyst program after graduating from Harvard University with a degree in economics.

“Though the municipal bond market is very large in size, with about $4.0 trillion outstanding, the muni investment community itself is very tightknit,” said Katerndahl. “Bryce is well known and highly respected within the industry, and we are thrilled to have him in place when John joins First Eagle in January.”

¹The First Eagle High Income Fund has made a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission to change its name to the First Eagle High Yield Municipal Fund, and is making commensurate changes to its investment objective and 80% investment policy, among other changes. These changes will be effective on January 2, 2024.

About First Eagle Investments

First Eagle Investments is an independent, privately owned investment management firm headquartered in New York with approximately $128 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2023.* Dedicated to providing prudent stewardship of client assets, the firm focuses on active, fundamental and benchmark-agnostic investing, with a strong emphasis on downside mitigation. With a heritage dating back to 1864, First Eagle strives to help clients avoid permanent impairment of capital and earn attractive returns through widely varied economic cycles. The firm’s investment capabilities include equity, fixed income, alternative credit and multi-asset strategies. For more information, please visit www.firsteagle.com.

* The total AUM represents the combined AUM of (i) First Eagle Investment Management, LLC, (ii) its subsidiary investment advisers, First Eagle Separate Account Management, LLC, First Eagle Alternative Credit (“FEAC”) and Napier Park Global Capital (“Napier Park”), and (iii) Regatta Loan Management LLC, an advisory affiliate of Napier Park. The total AUM includes $0.9 billion of committed and other non-fee-paying capital from FEAC, and $1.0 billion of committed and other non-fee-paying capital from Napier Park.

A registration statement relating to each fund has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. The SEC has not approved or disapproved the securities offered by such registration statements or passed upon the adequacy of the prospectus contained in each registration statement. Any representation to the contrary is considered a criminal offense. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time each registration statement becomes effective. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.
 

Risk Disclosures

There will be increased operational risks associated with the transition of the First Eagle High Income Fund to the First Eagle High Yield Municipal Fund, which is expected to require new and additional trading and counterparty relationships, new and additional borrowing and leverage arrangements, and new and additional capabilities for the management of derivatives. Beyond the inherent risks of transition and associated complexity, there is the possibility that not all of the required or desirable operational capabilities and investment and counterparty arrangements will be fully implemented by on or about January 2, 2024. Until that time, the First Eagle High Yield Municipal Fund’s flexibility to fully implement its new objective and strategies may be limited.

During the transition period, it is expected that the First Eagle High Yield Municipal Fund will not be as invested in income-producing securities that are exempt from regular federal income taxes as will be the case once the transition is complete. As a result, the First Eagle High Yield Municipal Fund is expected to pay a combination of “exempt-interest dividends” and ordinary dividends during this transitional phase.

Funds that invest in bonds are subject to interest-rate risk and can lose principal value when interest rates rise. Bonds are also subject to credit risk, in which the bond issuer may fail to pay interest and principal in a timely manner, or that negative perception of the issuer’s ability to make such payments may cause the price of that bond to decline.

The funds invest in high yield, fixed income securities that, at the time of purchase, are non-investment grade. High yield, lower rated securities involve greater price volatility and present greater risks than high rated fixed income securities. High yield securities are rated lower than investment-grade securities because there is a greater possibility that the issuer may be unable to make interest and principal payments on those securities. High yield securities involve greater risk than higher rated securities and portfolios that invest in them may be subject to greater levels of credit and liquidity risk than portfolios that do not.

All investments involve the risk of loss of principal.

Investors should consider investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus and summary prospectus of each fund will contain this and other information about the fund and, once effective, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.firsteagle.com or calling us at 800-334-2143. Please read our prospectus carefully before investing.

Investments are not FDIC insured or bank guaranteed, and may lose value.

FEF Distributors, LLC (“FEFD”) (SIPC), a limited purpose broker-dealer, distributes certain First Eagle products. FEFD does not provide services to any investor, but rather provides services to its First Eagle affiliates. As such, when FEFD presents a fund, strategy or other product to a prospective investor, FEFD and its representatives do not determine whether an investment in the fund, strategy or other product is in the best interests of, or is otherwise beneficial or suitable for, the investor. No statement by FEFD should be construed as a recommendation. Investors should exercise their own judgment and/or consult with a financial professional to determine whether it is advisable for the investor to invest in any First Eagle fund, strategy, or product.

First Eagle Funds are offered by FEF Distributors, LLC, a subsidiary of First Eagle Investment Management, LLC, which provides advisory services.

First Eagle Investments is the brand name for First Eagle Investment Management, LLC and its subsidiary investment advisers. First Eagle Alternative Credit and Napier Park are brand names for the two subsidiary investment advisers engaged in the alternative credit business.

©2023 First Eagle Investment Management, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Media Contacts
First Eagle Investments
Pholida Barclay
212-698-3280
pholida.barclay@firsteagle.com 

Prosek Partners
Bea Broderick
857-301-6949
pro-firsteagle@firsteagle.com