How this private credit manager invests for income

October 2025

Pete Robinson
Head of Investment Strategy
Challenger Investment Management

What is your daily work routine?

As the Head of Investment Strategy at Challenger Investment Management, I oversee our multi-strategy credit portfolios, including the Challenger IM Credit Income Fund, which forms part of the Cornerstone Private Markets Managed Portfolio.

Much of my day is spent gathering information – reviewing market trends, evaluating new investment opportunities, and monitoring transactions. I regularly connect with our local and London-based teams, as well as clients, to understand their evolving challenges and to inform our investment process.

I also sit on our investment committees and write our monthly and quarterly reports which are quite granular as I believe written analysis clarifies our approach and strengthens decision making and portfolio construction. In addition, I contribute to the Australian Financial Review’s Market Minds column, reflecting on topics as broad as banking sector dynamics to recent changes to superannuation tax policy.

 

How did you get into the investment industry?

As an undergraduate I completed a combined finance and mathematics degree and started as a risk quant analyst before moving into securitised markets, looking at specialised asset classes including insurance-linked securities. I began investing in these instruments around 2005. 

During the Global Financial Crisis I transitioned into more traditional securitised markets, working in the UK at a credit opportunities fund where I was buying distressed assets. In 2010 I returned to Australia to manage investments for Challenger’s insurance balance sheet. Then about a decade ago, I moved into funds management.

 

Why is Australia an attractive credit market?

We learnt at university about market efficiency and being fundamentally driven in investment approaches. But real-world trading reveals there are investment decisions made which are less about fundamentals and more behaviour driven, and this is where market inefficiencies begin to appear.

Australia is a strong market for credit investors. It is less liquid than global markets, which can lead to mispricing of risk in both public and private markets. Unlike equities where assets can be mispriced perpetually, credit assets have a repayment date where the mispricing or “cheapness” must be reversed. Of course the critical part of the equation is that investors need to be confident in their ability to hold to maturity in order to monetize the mispricing.

The illiquidity premium in private credit markets enhances yield potential, often without increased credit risk when compared to public investments. By designing investment products that minimise the risk of being a forced or motivated seller, investors can capture these excess returns while managing liquidity risk.

 

What’s your favourite part of the job?

I enjoy designing investment products that maximise the return outcomes for specific market opportunities. Our approach and philosophy are to be “investment led” rather than demand led in bringing new products to market and I love the search for new opportunities.

An example is launching the Credit Income Fund in 2017. It was the first fund in Australia to genuinely invest across both public and private credit markets, offering investors monthly liquidity with a 10% fund-level redemption gate. The structure provides us with the flexibility to shift between public and private assets as market conditions warrant and also addresses challenges with daily liquidity strategies, where managers may be otherwise compelled to maintain more liquid portfolios during periods of volatility and chase risk and illiquidity during periods of calm. It has given us an edge over traditional credit strategies.

 

What keeps you occupied outside of work?

I've got two children, and I love spending time with them and my family. They’re both very active basketball players so my partner and I often spend our time taking them to games or practice. As for many parents, being unpaid Uber drivers is our second (but probably our favourite) job.

 

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Cornerstone Financial Group Pty Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Invest Blue Pty Ltd , is an authorised representative and credit representative of Akumin Financial Planning Pty Limited ABN 89 051 208 327, Australian Financial Services Licence and Australian Credit Licence No. 232706.

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