Canyon Partners - officially known as Canyon Capital Advisors LLC - is an investment management firm with about $21 billion in assets under management (AUM). It manages a total of 24 funds - or pooled investment vehicles - which include 19 hedge funds. The firm currently employs 50 advisors.
It's important to understand that hedge funds are often complex, loosely regulated investments and therefore accessible to accredited investors. If you're looking for trusted and comprehensive support in managing your own finances, consider speaking to a professional financial advisor.
Canyon Partners Background
Canyon Capital Advisors LLC is owned by Canyon Partners, LLC and has been registered with the SEC as an investment advisor since 1994. It is owned by family limited partnerships and/or trusts that are ultimately controlled by Joshua S. Friedman and Mitchell R. Julius, who are the principals. They lead Canyon and are responsible for the investment activities of the firm's clients, research strategy and managment.
Canyon Partners is based in Los Angeles, California with an office in New York City. In 2021 it announced that it chose Dallas, Texas for the location of its next corporate office. Other Canyon offices around the globe are located in London, Shanghai and Tokyo.
The firm's clients and fund investors include trusts, pension plans, corporations as well as public and private entities. Again, investors in the firm's funds should be what are known as accredited investors or qualified purchasers.
Canyon Partners Investment Philosophy
Canyon Partners seeks to find opportunities on behalf of its clients that realize value otherwise overlooked by others. It refers to itself as a "global value-oriented" alternative asset manager and uses a variety of strategies across a wide range of asset classes. The firm emphasizes fundamental anaylsis, which measures a stock's value based on specific metrics that affect it. Its "bottom-up" approach focuses on rigorous research of these metrics.
The investment strategy offered at Canyon varies based on the fund you choose to invest in. Some of the strategies include:
- Flagship: investing across industries and asset classes, targeting a wide universe of mispriced securities
- Opportunistic and Closed-End: hybrid private equity style seeking to extract excess return premium
- Real Estate: investing in commercial real estate debt and equity
- River Canyon and CLOs: income-oriented credit strategies
Largest Hedge Funds Managed by Canyon Partners
Canyon Value Realization Master Fund, LP
- AUM: $8,153,081,000
- Minimum: $1 million
- Beneficial Owners: 606
Canyon Value Realization Fund, LP
- AUM: $3,865,994,000
- Minimum: $1 million
- Beneficial Owners: 459
Canyon Balanced Fund (Cayman), LP
- AUM: $3,215,404,000
- Minimum: $1 million
- Beneficial Owners: 491
Canyon Distressed Opportunity Master Fund II, LP
- AUM: $880,294,000
- Minimum: $1 million
- Beneficial Owners: 1,101
Canyon-ASP
- AUM: $793,172,000
- Minimum: $1 million
- Beneficial Owners: 2
Fees at Canyon Partners
Canyon Partners generally charges an asset-based management fee and/or a performance-based fee. The asset-based fees usually range from 1% and 2% per year. The performance-based fee is generally 20% per year of the net profit in an account, subject to a loss carryforward adjustment and a “high-water mark,” or all-time high.
Fees are charged by the firm to the fund, not to the clients directly. Canyon Partners may use sub-advisors to manage a small portion of a fund's assets. In turn, fund investors will pay their proportion of the share of the sub-advisors' management and administrative fees.
Similar other fees and expenses may apply - including but not limited to registration fees, maintenance fees, certain taxes and regulatory expenses - so it is imperative that potential clients review the fund's offering documents carefully and reach out about specific fees charged to their fund.
What to Watch Out For
Again, it's important to understand that hedge funds are often complex, loosely regulated investments and therefore accessible only to accredited investors, who, along with sophisticated investors, are allowed by the SEC to buy securities like these. These two groups of investors differ from retail investors or individual investors, who might be taking a more DIY approach or enlisting the services of a financial advisor.
Within the past 10 years, Canyon Partners has not undergone any disciplinary or legal action deemed material to a client’s evaluation of its business integrity. That said, as an SEC-registered investment manager, the firm is legally obligated to uphold its fiduciary duty and work in clients’ best interests at all times. You can view its latest Form ADV on the official website of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).
Becoming a Client of Canyon Partners
If you are an accredited investor and wish to become a client of Canyon Partners, you can visit its website or call (310) 272-1200.
Investing Tips
- Whether you are an accredited or sophisticated investor or not, it never hurts to consult a professional to make sure you're doing everything you can to manage your finances so that they can work for you. Finding a financial advisor doesn't have to be hard. SmartAsset's free tool matches you with financial advisors in just five minutes. If you're ready to connect with local advisors, get started now.
- It's never too early - or too late, for that matter - to start investing. In addition to connecting you with expert advisors, SmartAsset also has various tools to help you get a snapshot of the numbers right now. Take a look at our free investment calculator for a sense of how much a particular investment might be worth as well as its growth over time.
