Absolute Investment Advisers

The firm runs a dedicated convertible arbitrage strategy. It buys convertible bonds issued by predominantly growth-sector companies and simultaneously shorts a delta-adjusted amount of the issuer's common stock. The strategy isolates the credit component and embedded equity option while seeking to hedge out broader equity market moves, typically maintaining net equity exposure below 30%.

The strategy is fundamentally credit- and spread-driven rather than a directional bet on low rates. When rates rise and growth stocks sell off, the convertible bond's fixed-income floor and coupon become more significant relative to the equity option. The firm also benefits from higher reinvestment rates on the cash leg of the arbitrage and from secondary-market dislocations when levered sellers unwind positions.

Co-founders James A. Swanson and Fabian Onetti are the key decision-makers. Swanson serves as Chief Investment Officer and has been the public face of the strategy, while Onetti is named as a partner. The firm operates with a concentrated investment team, meaning the principals are directly involved in portfolio construction and trade execution.

Yes. In addition to separately managed accounts, the firm has historically managed a mutual fund and a closed-end fund. The closed-end fund structure allows the firm to run less-liquid positions in smaller convertible issues, but it also introduces a layer of complexity around trading at premiums or discounts to net asset value.

A long/short equity credit fund typically buys bonds on a fundamental credit thesis without a dynamic equity hedge tied to the specific security's conversion feature. Absolute's arbitrage is model-driven, delta-neutral to slightly net-long, and rebalanced frequently to maintain an unadulterated exposure to the convertible's pricing quirks—particularly the convertible's sensitivity to stock borrowing costs and volatility surfaces.

The primary structural risk is a sustained period of low volatility alongside a freeze in primary convertible issuance, which compresses the supply of new arbitrage opportunities and narrows secondary-market spreads. Additionally, because the portfolio concentrates in sectors like technology and biotech, it can be disproportionately affected by regulatory shocks or a broad sell-off in growth equities that is too rapid to delta-hedge cleanly.

No. The firm is a specialist asset manager, not a family office. It manages third-party capital through pooled investment vehicles and separate accounts. Its principals are not publicly associated with managing a single family's fortune.