First Eagle Investment Management Launches Alternative Credit Interval Fund

NEW YORK – December 2, 2020 — First Eagle Investment Management, LLC (“First Eagle”) today announced the launch of the First Eagle Credit Opportunities Fund (A-Share Class: FECAX, I-Share Class: FECRX). A multi-sector portfolio investing primarily in private and public credit assets—including direct lending, middle-market “club” loans, syndicated bank loans and high yield bonds—the Fund seeks to provide attractive current income with a focus on delivering strong risk-adjusted returns over the long term. Given the historically low correlation between alternative credit and traditional fixed income investments, the Fund also may serve as a diversifying complement to investors’ other portfolio holdings.

As an interval fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Credit Opportunities Fund provides investors with quarterly liquidity, giving the portfolio managers greater flexibility to invest in alternative income-generating assets like private credit and syndicated loans that historically have offered higher yields relative to traditional securities in exchange for reduced liquidity. At the same time, the Fund is offered for sale continuously at NAV, like an open-end mutual fund, and is available to a broad audience with no requirements that investors be accredited or qualified.

“Alternative credit assets represent an attractive solution for investors seeking to generate meaningful current income in today’s environment characterized by low yields and higher risks among traditional fixed income securities,” said Robert Bruno, Head of Retail Distribution and President of FEF Distributors, LLC. “The interval fund structure enables us to broadly offer retail investors access to the credit capabilities of First Eagle Alternative Credit, an institutional platform with decades of experience across multiple market cycles.”

“With the Credit Opportunities Fund we’re aiming to provide investors with an attractive, consistent income stream through exposure to parts of the US credit market typically less accessible to the retail channel,” said Christopher J. Flynn, President of First Eagle Alternative Credit. “By focusing on senior-secured assets and investing across multiple sectors and risk profiles, we look to generate this current income while mitigating downside risk compared to other higher-yielding fixed income strategies.”

ABOUT FIRST EAGLE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

First Eagle Investment Management is an independent, privately owned investment management firm headquartered in New York with approximately $101 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2020. Dedicated to providing prudent stewardship of client assets, the firm focuses on active, fundamental and benchmark-agnostic investing, with a strong emphasis on downside risk mitigation. Over a long history dating back to 1864, First Eagle has helped its clients avoid permanent impairment of capital and earn attractive returns through widely varied economic cycles—a tradition that is central to its mission today. The firm’s investment capabilities include equity, fixed income, alternative credit and multi-asset strategies. For more information on First Eagle, please visit www.feim.com. For information on First Eagle Alternative Credit, please visit www.feac.com.

The Credit Opportunities Fund is an Interval Fund, a type of fund that, in order to provide liquidity to shareholders, has adopted a fundamental investment policy to make quarterly offers to repurchase between 5% and 25% of its outstanding Common Shares at net asset value (“NAV”). Subject to applicable law and approval of the Board of Trustees for each quarterly repurchase offer, the Fund currently expects to offer to repurchase 5% of the Fund’s outstanding Common Shares at NAV on a quarterly basis.

The Credit Opportunities Fund’s Common Shares are not listed for trading on any national securities exchange, have no trading market and no market is expected to develop.

Risk Disclosures

An investment in the First Eagle Credit Opportunities Fund (the “Fund”) involves a number of significant risks. Before you invest, you should be aware of various risks, including those described below. For a more complete discussion of the risks of investing in the Fund, see the Fund’s prospectus under the heading, “Principal Risks of the Fund.”

All investments involve the risk of loss of principal. The Fund may not be able to pay distributions or may have to reduce distribution levels if the income and/or dividends the Fund receives from its investments decline.

Investment in private and middle market companies is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk of credit loss, and therefore the Fund’s securities may not be suitable for someone with a low tolerance for risk. The Fund is required to rely on the ability of the First Eagle Alternative Credit’s investment professionals to obtain adequate information to evaluate the potential returns from investing in these companies.

Below investment grade securities or comparable unrated instruments may be subject to greater risks than securities or instruments that have higher credit ratings, including a higher risk of default, and the Fund might have difficulty selling them promptly at an acceptable price.

Investments in loans potentially expose the Fund to the credit risk of the underlying borrower, and in certain cases, of the financial institution. The Fund’s ability to receive payments in connection with the loan depends primarily on the financial condition of the borrower. Even investments in secured loans present risk, as there is no assurance that the collateral securing the loan will be sufficient to satisfy the loan obligation. The market for certain loans is expected to be illiquid and the Fund may have difficulty selling them. In addition, loans often have contractual restrictions on resale, which can delay the sale and adversely impact the sale price.

Investments in debt securities and other obligations of companies that are experiencing significant financial or business distress involve a substantial degree of risk, including a material risk that the issuer will default on the obligations or enter bankruptcy. The level of analytical sophistication, both financial and legal, necessary for successful investment in distressed assets is unusually high. There is no assurance that First Eagle Alternative Credit will correctly evaluate the value of the assets collateralizing the Fund’s investments or the prospects for a successful reorganization or similar action in respect of any company.