Dan Zwirn - Unconstrained Opportunities

Dan Zwirn, CEO and CIO of Arena Investors, stops by The Business Brew to discuss his investing strategy.  Arena Investors, LP is a registered investment advisor that originates investments (generally below $50 million) with borrowers and other counterparties who need access to financing and are otherwise not able to access conventional sources.  They have complete mandate flexibility across industry, product, and geography.   

In Dan's words, "The real beauty of our approach, to me, is that there’s no ceiling on the creativity we can use to shape alignment for our clients, our partners and ourselves. If someone needs capital and there’s any way to do it that makes sense for all parties, we will find that way."

Bill enjoyed this conversation very much and hopes you will as well.   

Arena's Website: https://www.arenaco.com

Dan's Investor Letter: https://www.arenaco.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Arena_Investors_Letter_YE_2022.pdf   

Dan's Official Bio: https://www.arenaco.com/team/daniel-zwirn/

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Detailed Show Notes  

What Arena does - 3:30 

How big money invests at times - 6:30 

Process oriented vs. security selection - 9:30 

Financial Products vs. Investment Products - 13:10 

Why Arena has invested in servicing - 19:30 

The incentives to not see what is going on - 22:10 

Where are we in a credit/business/fiscal cycle - 25:00 

How Arena thinks about opportunity - 32:30 

How Arena thinks about LTVs - 39:05 

"We are at a casino and there has never been more gamblers" - 44:00 

Are defaults bad? - 48:00 

Does diversification solve all problems? 52:30 

A CLO discussion - 56:50 

What is going on with the job market - 1:03:30