Eric Williams Joins Loomis Sayles as Portfolio Manager on the Full Discretion Team

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Loomis, Sayles & Company, the global investment manager with nearly $390 billion in assets under management as of 31 December 2024, is pleased to announce that Eric Williams has joined the firm’s Full Discretion Team as a portfolio manager on their high yield and bank loan strategies.

Eric brings extensive credit investment experience with a specialization in high yield and bank loans. He joins Loomis Sayles from Northern Trust Asset Management, where he was most recently head of capital structure and a senior portfolio manager on the global fixed income team. In this role, he had broad oversight of the actively-managed leveraged credit platform and served as the lead portfolio manager on several leveraged credit strategies.

Pioneers in multisector investing, the Full Discretion Team has $79 billion in assets under management as of 31 March 2025 across a suite of institutional strategies and fixed income funds. They are high-conviction, active credit investors who take a deep-value, equity-like approach to credit selection across global fixed income markets. In 2023, the Full Discretion Team consolidated their high yield and bank loan efforts, having recognized the ongoing convergence of the two asset classes and related structural market changes including evolving quality and liquidity profiles as well as the blending of the syndication process.

“Over his career, Eric has consistently demonstrated a disciplined investment process, superior portfolio construction and effective management skills,” said David Waldman, chief investment officer of Loomis Sayles. “Eric is inherently aligned with Loomis Sayles’ investment philosophy and we are delighted to have him join us.”

“Eric brings a specific, proven set of skills in high yield and bank loan portfolio construction and management that are highly applicable to the Full Discretion Team’s approach to those asset classes,” said Matt Eagan, executive vice president, portfolio manager and head of the Loomis Sayles Full Discretion Team. “His addition further enhances our efforts to anticipate the evolution of both the markets and our clients’ needs.”

In addition, Matt Eagan and Peter Sheehan, who are currently portfolio managers on Full Discretion’s high yield strategies, will be added as portfolio managers to the team’s bank loan portfolios to further align the bank loan strategies with the foundations of Full Discretion investing. These changes, as well as Eric’s addition to the high yield and bank loan strategies, are effective 12 May 2025.

Previously, Eric was the head of credit at Northern Trust and a senior portfolio manager for fundamental, systematic and global high yield and ESG mandates. Prior to this, he was a portfolio manager and trader, working with research analysts to evaluate fundamental risk exposures, with a focus on valuation and volatility. Earlier in his career, Eric was a portfolio analyst and associate portfolio manager. Eric earned a BA in economics from the University of Colorado and an MBA with a concentration in finance and economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Learn more about the Loomis Sayles Full Discretion Team.

ABOUT LOOMIS SAYLES

Since 1926, Loomis, Sayles & Company has helped fulfill the investment needs of institutional and mutual fund clients worldwide. The firm’s performance-driven investors integrate deep proprietary research and risk analysis to make informed, judicious decisions. Teams of portfolio managers, strategists, research analysts and traders collaborate to assess market sectors and identify investment opportunities wherever they may lie, within traditional asset classes or among a range of alternative investments. Loomis Sayles has the resources, foresight and the flexibility to look far and wide for value in broad and narrow markets in its commitment to deliver attractive, risk-adjusted returns for clients. This rich tradition has earned Loomis Sayles the trust and respect of clients worldwide, for whom it manages $389.3 billion* in assets (as of 31 December 2024).

*Includes the assets of both Loomis, Sayles & Co., LP, and Loomis Sayles Trust Company, LLC. ($47.1 billion for the Loomis Sayles Trust Company). Loomis Sayles Trust Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P.

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