Ratings agency Fitch has affirmed its manager rating for boutique Dublin-based fund managers Avoca Capital Holdings at "highest standards".

The privately-owned specialised credit manager has assets under management of €5.9 billion as of June 2013, including €3.9 billion in collateralised loan obligations (CLOs). It employs 64 across its Dublin and London offices, and manages secured loans, high-yield bonds, convertible bonds and structured credit.

Fitch said the outlook for the company was stable and its rating reflected the strength of Avoca’s overall business, which it described as “increasingly diversified”.

“The rating is underpinned by Avoca’s stability and depth of staff, its sound control environment, robust investment decision-making framework and solid operational backbone.”

It said it would define Avoca as an asset manager rather than purely as a CLO manager due to its more varied business mix.

Governance structures
It highlighted the depth and experience of Avoca's investments teams and its proprietary IT platform "as particular strengths". The company had developed governance structures that were "more characteristic of a larger asset manager or public-listed company" rather than an independent boutique firm.

Avoca Capital was established in 2002 and is owned by its employees.

Its co-chief executives are Alan Burke, who is based in Dublin, and James Hatchley, who heads its London office.