King Street Capital Management

King Street Capital Management

King Street Capital Management was founded in 1995 by Brian Higgins and O. Francis Biondi, both veterans of Morgan Stanley's proprietary trading desk. The firm launched with a broad mandate to pursue global opportunistic credit and special situations, deploying capital into complex restructurings, distressed debt, and event-driven trades. Operating from its New York headquarters, King Street established early footholds for sourcing in Europe and Asia, opening a London office in 1998 and a Tokyo office in 2001. The firm runs capital across four broad verticals: corporate and structured credit, distressed and special situations, private credit, and real estate. On the liquid side, King Street trades performing and stressed corporate debt, structured products, and post-reorganization equities. Its private credit arm originates directly negotiated loans to middle-market and sponsor-backed companies, while the real estate platform invests in debt and equity across property sectors. A 2015 investment in One Wall Street alongside Harry Macklowe, which converted the tower into luxury condominiums, illustrates the firm's willingness to take complex, multi-year real estate risks. In 2023, King Street committed over $300 million to a debtor-in-possession facility for WeWork's Chapter 11 restructuring (per Bloomberg, 2023), reinforcing its capacity to underwrite large, highly negotiated distressed credits. King Street has grown to employ more than 180 professionals across offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore, and Dubai. The partnership structure remains a key governance feature; Higgins and Biondi share portfolio management responsibilities, supported by a disciplined investment committee. The firm runs no commingled perpetual-capital vehicle, preferring instead to manage segregated accounts and a series of closed-end drawdown funds. In September 2024, King Street closed its fourth real estate fund, King Street Real Estate Opportunity Fund IV, securing over $1.5 billion in commitments to pursue property debt and equity globally (per PERE, 2024). King Street's structural distinction lies in its pure partnership governance and multi-cylinder approach to credit markets, managing a single, integrated global P&L rather than operating in product silos. The firm trades both liquid and illiquid credit instruments under one roof, a model that allows it to participate in distressed cycles opportunistically while warehousing performing assets for private credit portfolios. This structure, combined with deep Asian and European sourcing networks built over nearly three decades, gives the firm a genuine origination edge that few multi-strategy credit platforms replicate.