Author Dominique Mielle: Damsel in Distressed

Dominique Mielle was a partner and senior portfolio manager at Canyon Capital, a $25 billion fund, where she worked for twenty years. In this episode we discussed her career in the world of distressed investing, her book, and the hedge fund industry in general.

• 3:00: The WorldCom bond trade.


• 6:30: Dealing with a losing investment.


• 9:00: Importance of expertise and networks in distressed investing. Distressed investing as a game of chess.


• 11:40: Distressed investing as an apprenticeship business.


• 14:15: Generalist vs. sector specialist model.


• 17:30: Hertz bankruptcy.


• 20:40: Airline bankruptcy investing and Equipment Trust Certificates.


• 28:00: How distressed investing changed over the past decades.


• 32:00: Navigating the financial crisis in 2008


• 35:00: Mental resilience and losses.


• 38:00: Losses are unavoidable.


• 39:20: The business of investing: building a CLO business, raising capital.


• 40:59: Pitching, fundraising.


• 45:00: Women in hedge funds. “In 20 years, I only met one other female partner who was doing distressed. And she's a friend of mine.”


• 48:30: Implications of hedge funds as a mature industry.


• 51:25: Pitching and communicating ideas.


• 53:45: Managing a team of analysts.

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