< The 2014 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team

2014-03-tom-johnson-all-europe-fixed-income-research-team-investment-grade-karine-elias.jpg
Karine Elias
& team
Barclays
First-Place Appearances: 1

Total Appearances: 2

Team Debut: 2013

Last year, Karine Elias and her Barclays team debuted at runner-up — and this year they rocket all the way to first place, at the same time defending their second-place position in High-Yield Retailing/Consumer Products. The London-based analysts track 60 issuers and maintain negative ratings on investment-grade retailers and consumer names overall, says Elias, 37. She adds, however, that her squad discriminates at the issuer level. One example is in their coverage of French hypermarket and supermarket operators Carrefour and Casino Guichard-Perrachon. “We have argued that the spread differential between Carrefour and Casino was too wide, at 50 basis points in July, as Casino spreads widened on concerns about its Latin America exposure,” she explains. Accordingly, the researchers “have advocated a compression trade between Carrefour and Casino, with a fair value target of 20 basis points, implying 30 basis points upside.” Elias joined Barclays in 2010 from Nomura International, where she followed consumer names. She previously tracked high-yield credits at Royal Bank of Scotland and Morgan Stanley. Elias earned a BSc in civil engineering at Lebanon’s American University of Beirut and holds a postgraduate degree in business studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.