ICG CDO head to retire next year

Intermediate Capital Group’s Sara Halbard has decided to retire as head of its fund management subsidiary, which has eight CDOs and several institutional mandates.

She leaves in June next year.

The market for CDOs has been dramatically affected by the credit crunch and Halbard’s decision to retire comes as her team faces uncertain debt markets.

Tom Attwood, managing director of ICG, said Halbard’s retirement was entirely unconnected with the credit market difficulties. “She thrives on these sort of conditions and is at the top of her game. In 2001-2 she outperformed the market by 15 percent per annum and we’re very sorry to see her go.”

Halbard said she was confident she would leave the business in good hands due to colleagues such as John Barker, ICG’s head of leveraged loans, Garland Hansmann, head of high yield, and David Ford, head of research.

Attwood said: “These are very exciting times and we believe at a time of inefficient markets such as these the people with really good credit skills will come through very strongly indeed.”