News

Voya Investment Management, the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that Matt Toms, CFA, has been appointed to the newly created role of global chief investment officer (CIO).

Toms, who has served as CIO of fixed income for Voya Investment Management (IM) since September 2016, will now lead the firm’s more than 300 investment professionals who are managing approximately $330 billion in assets under management across fixed income, equities, multi-asset solutions and alternative strategies. He will continue to report to Christine Hurtsellers, chief executive officer, Voya IM.

Bloomberg reports the Federal Reserve’s “tightening campaign has slowed deal-making activity in commercial real estate markets, leading Wall Street syndicates to forecast a fall in sales of the bonds that securitize the underlying mortgages.” In an interview, Voya Investment Management Securitized Credit Head David Goodson said, “This was one of the few subsectors that was running above trend through the first half of the year, and the market was just saturated with CMBS supply, so the pullback in issuance expectations has been a good thing.”

CNBC reports Voya Investment CIO Paul Zemsky “joins CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss how investors should navigate more economic tightening from the Federal Reserve.”

BNN Bloomberg reported the U.S. mortgage industry is “seeing its first lenders go out of business after a sudden spike in lending rates, and the wave of failures that’s coming could be the worst since the housing bubble burst about 15 years ago.” Voya Securitized Credit Head David Goodson said, “Part of the reason these companies are distressed is because the loans can’t go to the GSEs for funding. The options for funding are more limited, which is especially painful when financial conditions are tightening.”

Zacks Investment Research reports Voya Financial “reported second-quarter 2022 adjusted operating earnings of $1.67 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.1%. The bottom line decreased 24.1% year over year.”

Voya Investment Management (Voya IM), the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Czech Asset Management, L.P. (CAM), a leading private credit asset manager dedicated to the U.S. middle market.

“At Voya IM, continuing to build out our range of innovative, private markets and alternative capabilities has been a strategic focus and growth driver for our firm and the industry at large,” said Christine Hurtsellers, chief executive officer, Voya IM. “The team at CAM will complement our leading fixed income platform and accelerate the expansion of our private and leveraged credit franchise across institutional, insurance and retail channels.”

With more than $5 billion of committed capital across four funds since its founding in 2011, CAM specializes in providing privately negotiated first and second lien floating rate senior secured loans primarily to U.S. middle market companies. The CAM team brings to Voya IM strong relationships with a robust group of investment partnerships, including public and private pension funds, endowments, foundations, religious organizations and Taft Hartley plans.

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) (“Voya”), announced today that it has completed its previously announced transfer of certain assets and teams comprising the substantial majority of Allianz Global Investors’ (“AllianzGI”) U.S. business (“AGI U.S.”) to Voya Investment Management (“Voya IM”), the asset management business of Voya Financial. AllianzGI and Voya Financial announced on June 13, 2022 that the companies had entered into a definitive agreement regarding the strategic partnership.

Pensions & Investments reports, “Two-third of money management deals took place in the second quarter of 2022.” Voya Financial in the second quarter “agreed to acquire most of Allianz Global Investors’ U.S. investment management business, and AllianzGI would acquire up to a 24% stake in Voya Investment Management.”

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), the leading health, wealth and investment company, announced today that its board of directors has appointed Heather Lavallee, 52, currently chief executive officer (CEO) of Voya’s Wealth Solutions business, to succeed Rodney O. Martin, Jr., 70, as the company’s CEO as part of Voya’s planned succession process. Lavallee, who has been appointed Voya’s president and CEO-elect, will become CEO on Jan. 1, 2023, when Martin, who also serves as chairman of Voya’s board of directors, will assume the role of executive chairman. Lavallee has also been appointed to Voya’s board of directors as of today.

Bloomberg reports that “June has been the worst month for U.S. corporate bonds since the start of the pandemic, by at least one measure, but investors like ... Voya Investment Management think it’s too soon to hunt for bargains.” Voya head of U.S. investment-grade corporates Travis King said that with the odds of a recession rising, current corporate debt prices “don’t adequately reflect the risk” of a sustained downturn. King believes that average risk premium spreads below 1.50 percentage points “now feel too low.”