The company
Among the world’s most trusted asset managers, this firm is known for consistently delivering superior investment returns and serving as a strategically important partner to clients. The team leveraging AlphaSense focuses on senior and junior private credit solutions to finance leveraged buyouts, corporate growth, acquisitions and balance sheet recapitalizations.
The challenge
Inefficient research using consumer-facing search tools during the due diligence phase was resulting in wasted time and incomplete information gathering. In private equity, wasted time means missed opportunities.
“I can think back to specific examples where a task that would have taken me six hours only took me one hour in AlphaSense. When AlphaSense is applicable to my research focus, I’ve saved hours.”
Senior Associate
Results
Researching in AlphaSense saves time: When researching public companies or companies owned by public companies, the team describes the time savings as “massive”. Leveraging AlphaSense’s advanced search functionality, they’re able to hone in on relevant search results quickly. “I no longer find myself on page 10 of Google to ensure I haven’t missed anything,” one analyst said. “When developing an investment thesis, with AlphaSense we spend 50-75% less time on information gathering in the due diligence process.” A senior associate agreed, “I can think back to specific examples where a task that would have taken me 6 hours only took me 1 hour in AlphaSense. When AlphaSense is applicable to my research focus, I’ve saved hours.”
AlphaSense drives greater confidence that nothing fell through the cracks: The team feels confident that when presenting to the investment committee, if there’s a question that exists in the public domain, AlphaSense will capture that. The analyst said, “Just today I just researched a company in AlphaSense and a litigation document came up because of the unique content sets in AlphaSense. It wasn’t huge in the press so I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise. This was super helpful.” The team relies on functionality like Smart Synonyms to stay abreast of key topics such as the trade war, etc. “This is incredibly valuable as it relates to uncovering things that you might not uncover,” the analyst said, in reference to Smart Synonyms. AlphaSense Smart Synonyms knew automatically that ‘the trade war’ is related to trade disputes, tariffs, border taxes and other terms.
AlphaSense makes analysts more productive: Historically the team hires 2-3 new analysts a year to their 20 person team. After adopting AlphaSense, this year they’re only bringing in only one. With AlphaSense, analysts can work on three deals at a time instead of two deals. “In 2018, we were able to reduce hiring and operate with 5% less headcount as a result of productivity gains in AlphaSense,” said the senior associate. “We look to add approximately five new credits to the portfolio each year and AlphaSense gives us greater confidence in these investment decisions.” With the time savings, analysts are able to spend more time on other aspects of the deal so that they can make overall better credit decisions. In conclusion the team says, “it’s good for us as we look at private credit markets and if you work in public credit or equity markets, it’s a must have.”
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