Getting to know Challenger Investment Management – Meet Cherie Juwono

May 2023

Cherie Juwono, Portfolio Manager, Fixed Income

Cherie is a Portfolio Manager in Challenger Investment Management’s Fixed Income business, with a focus on acquisition finance transactions. She is responsible for the structuring, execution and monitoring of debt investments. Cherie has over 10 years’ experience in leveraged finance, corporate and institutional banking across a range of industries.

What inspired you to pursue a career in fixed income?

I’m involved in the acquisition finance part of fixed income, which is primarily involved in providing debt solutions to Australian corporates. We’re industry agnostic, which means we look at companies from all different industries. One of my parts of the job that I enjoy the most is learning the ins and outs of different companies and industries. There’s always something new to learn and that’s kept me interested in this corner of fixed income for more than a decade.

What do you bring to the Challenger Investment Management team?

I’d like to think I bring a different point of view. The team at CIM all have different backgrounds and experiences, which always makes for lively and interesting discussions. Having worked in big banks previously where people tend to follow traditional banking career pathways, the diverse nature of the CIM team has been a refreshing change for me.

What do you think is the most underappreciated benefit of private markets and what is the most underappreciated risk of financial markets.

Underappreciated benefit – The level of information we receive before making a private debt investment is much more comprehensive than a public investment. For a typical transaction, we get very detailed financial, legal, commercial and technical due diligence reporting completed by top-tier third-parties (e.g. accounting firms, consultants). Better information means better decision making.

Underappreciated risk – In assessing whether something is a good debt investment, judging the quality of the management or ownership team sitting behind a company is important, but difficult to get just from reading a financial report. We spend a lot of time making sure we have a good understanding of the management/ownership teams and their track record. More than half of our deals are directly originated with the borrowers, which means we typically have direct access to management on a regular basis. We’ve also been active in this market for a long time (since pre-GFC) and that experience helps in forming these views.

What is the biggest change you have seen in private lending markets since you started your career?

The emergence of the private debt funds has been a big change in the landscape of private lending. When I started in this space more than 15 years ago, corporate lending was very much dominated by banks. They are still the main players, particularly in comparison to the more well-developed debt markets in the US and UK, but private debt funds have become a credible alternative source of capital for corporate lending. That has changed the dynamics in the market – it’s encouraged more diverse deal structures and opportunities to invest in the full risk/reward spectrum, which is interesting.

What are you most likely to splurge on?

Pre-kids and COVID, I would’ve said holidays. These days, a splurge is a day at the spa – a place I can honestly tell my kids they’re not allowed in!