9Questions is our Q&A series featuring key decision-makers in the corporate credit markets — get in touch if you know who we should be talking to!

David Saitowitz is the head of US liquid credit at ICG, where he manages the firm’s US investment strategies in syndicated loans and high yield bonds. He joined the firm last year after more than a decade at Apollo Global Management.

Saitowitz shared how his team manages to hold true to its investment principles in a stormy year, the difference between a boutique shop and a mega-manager, and the impact AI is having on the industry.

1. It’s been a bumpy year given the presidential and policy transitions. How are you advising clients especially when it seems that policies and mandates keep changing up on a near-daily basis?

At ICG we manage portfolios for our clients, rather than provide advice. As we are primarily bottom-up fundamental credit investors, we do not make decisions purely based on policy transitions and instead focus on the impact they are likely to have on the debt of issuers we invest in. To do this effectively, we have a weekly global strategy meeting, which brings together portfolio managers from New York and London, together with our head of economic & investment research. During this meeting, the team discusses the macroeconomic environment, market developments and relative value across asset classes.

During heightened market volatility, as we saw during Covid-19, the Russia/Ukraine conflict and more recently the imposition of tariffs, we re-underwrite every credit on our approved list. To do this we leverage the deep sponsor and management relationships we have at ICG to gather information with regards to near-to-intermediate budgeting and sponsor support, as well as expected free cash flow and liquidity management.

2. Borrowers increasingly toggle between private markets and broadly syndicated loans. How does that affect opportunities for liquid credit managers like ICG?

ICG is a $123bn asset manager with a broad range of strategies covering both private credit and broadly syndicated loans in the US and Europe, making it a trusted capital provider for issuers in both markets. As issuers increasingly move between the two markets, we are able to leverage work previously done by our private credit teams and vice versa.

While we view private credit and BSL markets as competing for some larger deals, with borrowers potentially running dual-track processes when seeking to raise debt, there is a strong rationale for both markets to function interdependently, which could provide benefits for both borrowers and lenders. We have also seen sponsors find opportunities to raise debt in both markets simultaneously for the same issuer.

Given the tight spread environment we are currently in, we have seen many issuers find the BSL market more attractively priced with favorable terms than for private credit. This has been a source of supply through 2025.

3. Rate-cut expectations are building. How might a lower-rate environment affect demand for riskier credits?

The market is currently expecting two to three rate cuts in the US before the end of the year, which is likely to be supportive for risk assets, including leveraged credit.

From a borrower perspective, each interest rate cut will be incrementally beneficial for those riskier credits, as it decreases their cost of capital. However, for those companies that are currently going through serious difficulties, 75bps of cuts will only kick the can down the road and is unlikely to materially change the trajectory of those companies.

From an investor’s perspective, those focused on yield may find leveraged credit increasingly attractive relative to government bonds or IG. However, for those focused on total return, it would become less attractive, as the all-in yield would come down.

4. M&A and LBO activity are finally ticking up after a tepid H1 25 — are we going to see more new-money debt syndications come 2026?

We have already seen some increased new issuance supporting M&A activity in the US in 2025, with a few large deals announced recently.

The M&A market has also finally gained some momentum after several years of subdued dealmaking, with the forward calendar building slightly from a very low level. This should start to come through as new-money debt syndications rise in 2026. Falling interest rates, combined with the pressure on PE firms to deploy dry powder and exit older investments, are all likely to continue to be supportive of this trend over the next 12-18 months.

5. ICG describes its Multi-Asset Credit strategy as a portfolio of “100-125 best ideas” across loans, high yield bonds, CLO debt and special situations. How do you go about selecting those best ideas?

ICG’s team of credit analysts review each new opportunity that comes to the leveraged loan and high yield markets in both the US and Europe, considering its credit quality to initially determine whether it should be added to the coverage universe. Ideas can come from both primary and secondary markets, with portfolio managers, traders and analysts all able to propose/sponsor ideas worth more research. If worth a deeper review, the credit analyst will present a written investment proposal to the Investment Committee, including discussion of capitalization, sponsorship, business, strengths, risks/weaknesses, ESG, covenants, base and downside cashflow models.

If approved, the issue is added to our approved list with limits, ensuring everything we own has been taken through the IC process with all the necessary scrutiny. Portfolio managers then select credits from this list taking into consideration relative value, top-down views on asset classes and regions, position sizing, conviction and risk-reward.

Our allocation to loans, high yield bonds and special situations is predominantly driven by bottom-up considerations, whereas our allocation to CLO debt is more top-down. Within this opportunity set, we look to identify and exploit dislocations at the asset class level. These often occur because different market structures (e.g., size, liquidity, investor composition) can lead to credit risk being priced differently across bonds, loans, and CLOs. Our approach to CLO investing represents a relative value assessment versus “underlying” forms of corporate credit (bonds and loans).

6. You said in a recent interview that you were the sixth employee at Stone Tower. What’s the biggest difference between working for a smaller shop versus your current one?

While the nature of the work itself is very similar, all firms operate slightly differently given the size of firm, product set and market environment. The biggest difference between Stone Tower and ICG is really just sheer scale. Given ICG’s varied strategies and broad geographic presence, the firm provides us with significant resources to leverage when we make investment decisions. The firm has a meaningful competitive edge given our strong sponsor relationships and deep local knowledge. All this enables us to make better, more informed investment decisions.

7. You’ve said the hardest thing in credit investing is staying disciplined, especially in tight markets where there’s temptation to stretch for an extra 25 basis points. How do you keep your team disciplined?

In today’s environment, where credit spreads are tight, it is crucial not to feel pressured to reach for yield.

We do this by staying true to our underwriting process and not taking shortcuts. As investors, it is important to ask ourselves if we are saying yes today for 25bps of extra spread, would we also be saying yes in a different market environment.

8. ICG has a European heritage. What’s one thing you’ve learned from your colleagues in London (or elsewhere) that you might not have picked up in New York?

It is hard to single out one thing, but I really appreciate our global perspective. Our formal weekly Global Strategy Meeting is one way in which we exchange ideas on companies, sectors, regions, issuance and other market dynamics. As we manage global strategies, there is also constant dialogue between portfolio managers in London and New York as we think about relative value and the best opportunities to invest. We also have global investment committees, which include both the US and European liquid credit teams, for global issuers that represent an important part of the market. For these issuers, having teams in both regions provides us with an edge over those managers focused on one particular region.

Each one of these interactions offers us market information and insight into issuers, sponsors and management teams we would not otherwise have had, if we were only based in New York.

9. Some of your peers previously talked about AI opportunities and disruption. How has the influx of AI technologies changed the way you do your job?

The world is changing fast with regards to AI, and we want to be early adopters. Specifically, we’ve spent time thinking about how best to incorporate it into our workflow. We’re already finding ways to make our processes more efficient by spending less time entering data and more time doing investigative work such as speaking to management teams, sponsors and other market participants.

The team already uses AI to extract information from documents, helping to streamline access to relevant data. We also recognize the growing potential of AI in specialized documents and have chosen to collaborate with third-party providers who offer AI capabilities in areas such as legal documentation and financial reporting. More recently, we have been speaking to an AI provider that offers a product to help with investment memo writing. These partnerships enable the team to leverage AI-driven efficiencies and insights without the need for extensive in-house development.

Explore our full collection of 9Questions interviews here.