An investor used State Street Corp. (STT)’s exchange-traded fund to anonymously obtain almost $780 million of speculative-grade bonds without moving prices in the secondary market.
The investor on May 10 exchanged as much as 19.7 million shares in the SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) for the equivalent of about $779.3 million in bonds held by the fund, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The redemption, the biggest in the four-year history of the $11.4 billion fund, came after the investor had accumulated shares over several weeks, according to the firm that brokered the trade. The investment in the fund, which tracks the Barclays Capital High Yield Very Liquid Bond Index, may mark a new way for investors to gain control over a large group of bonds without tipping off other investors.
“He used the ETF to get his exposure initially; he figured it was an easier way to maintain his anonymity,” said the broker in a telephone interview. “It was a unique approach. This was his plan going into it.”
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