First Eagle high-yield team hires ex Nuveen analysts, fund hits $3.5 billion

First Eagle’s high-yield municipal team, led since January by former Nuveen portfolio manager John Miller, continues its trend of hiring from Miller’s former shop with two Nuveen veterans and one from Lord Abbett.

Douglas Johnston, who has been at Nuveen for 25 years, and Ryan Rosberg, at Nuveen for 18 years, will join First Eagle as managing directors and senior credit analysts, starting Nov. 18.

Bridget Young started at the firm Monday as a director and senior credit analyst. Young comes from nearly six years at Lord Abbett, where she most recently was associate portfolio manager of leveraged credit. Prior to Lord Abbett, Young was an associate at Morgan Stanley on the municipal lending team. 

At Nuveen, Johnston focused on high-yield and distressed debt in the municipal and corporate bond markets. He was also on the board of directors of Energy Harbor power company, recently acquired by Vistra Corp., which had accounted for Nuveen’s largest high-yield position.

Rosberg has been at Nuveen for nearly 18 years with a focus on high-yield land-secured, project finance and transportation. He was the firm’s main analyst for the Florida Brightline high-speed rail project, which under Miller was one of the high-yield fund’s top positions. Prior to that, Rosberg was a fixed-income analyst at McDonnell Investment Management from 2002 to 2007, according to his LinkedIn page.

The trio will report directly to Miller. Rosberg and Johnston will work out of Chicago and Young in New York.

“We look forward to welcoming Doug, Ryan and Bridget, whose extensive experience and deep analytical expertise will be invaluable as we continue to enhance the high-yield municipal credit team’s ability to meet the evolving needs of our clients,” said Miller in a statement. “Their combined strengths in credit analysis will support our efforts to identify underrated and undervalued securities in the large and often inefficient muni bond market.”

Miller, one of the municipal market’s most prominent junk bond portfolio managers, joined First Eagle as lead portfolio manager in January, after leaving Nuveen last April the same day that the Chicago-based firm settled a contentious four-year legal battle with competitor Preston Hollow that featured Miller as a main player.

In July, the firm brought on Chicago-based Purva Patel as managing director and senior investment specialist from Nuveen, where she was senior vice president for over two decades and managing director since 2019. 

Carl Katerndahl, who was at Nuveen for nearly 22 years before leaving in July 2019, came to First Eagle with Miller and is the team’s chief operating officer. Bryce Pickering, John Su and Andrew Belsky are also on the team.

The First Eagle’s High Yield Municipal Fund now has $3.5 billion of total assets, the firm said. The team also has a short-duration high-yield muni fund, and “intends to offer these and potentially other income-focused strategies in additional formats in the future,” the firm said.