Hozef Arif has joined Avantis Investors, an investment brand from global asset manager American Century Investments, as a senior portfolio manager for fixed income strategies.
Arif reports to Chief Investment Officer Eduardo Repetto who, along with Chief Operating Officer Patrick Keating, launched Avantis Investors in 2019. The company passed USD1.5 billion in assets under management as of 30 June, 2020.
“We are thrilled to have Hozef join our investment team. He will play a critical role as we broaden our diversified, tax-efficient and low-cost investment offerings into fixed income,” Repetto says.
Arif joins Avantis Investors from Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), where he was an executive vice president and credit portfolio manager for 12 years. While at PIMCO, he managed a variety of strategies in global high yield and crossover corporate credit, including several years as co-manager of the flagship high yield credit funds. Prior to that, he worked as a leveraged finance investment banker at Credit Suisse. Arif has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School Business and a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from Stanford University.
Arif is the second PIMCO veteran to recently join Avantis Investors. Mitchell Handa also joined as a Senior Portfolio Manager earlier this year. The firm announced in June plans to launch three fixed income strategies later this year after filing preliminary registrations with the SEC.
These two additions, along with the hiring of Dylan Hurt and Daniel Lohman into client-service roles as Senior Relationship Specialists, brings the total Avantis headcount to 20 people across the investments and client service functions. The buildout of the firm’s 16,000 square-foot office space in Los Angeles was recently completed, with room to accommodate more than 60 people and ability for further expansion in the future.
