Nancy Zimmerman on AI Hyperscaler Debt and Bond Market Distortions
Bracebridge Capital's Nancy Zimmerman explains how AI hyperscalers and data center debt are distorting corporate bond markets and sovereign yield curves.
Nancy Zimmerman – People, Process, and Fixed Income Arbitrage at Bracebridge (EP.517)
With Ted Seides, Nancy Zimmerman · Sunday, October 4, 2026
Nancy Zimmerman, co-founder and Managing Partner of Bracebridge Capital, discusses her multi-decade career in fixed income arbitrage, from learning options pricing at O'Connor & Associates to launching Bracebridge alongside Gabe Sunshine with backing from David Swensen. She details how Bracebridge identifies structural market inefficiencies across developed rates, structured credit, corporates, and emerging markets, and explains the firm's approach to portfolio construction, crisis management, and talent alignment.
Key takeaways
- Tech hyperscalers are borrowing vast capital across any available maturity and currency, prioritizing speed and compute capacity over debt pricing. Read more →
- David Swensen left behind a literal reminder of his core investment thesis at Yale: when colleagues cleaned out his office desk, they found a note card reading "People, people, people." Read more →
- Nancy Zimmerman launched Bracebridge Capital in 1994 alongside Gabe Sunshine with early backing from David Swensen at Yale, building a multi-decade edge in relative value fixed income. Read more →
- Nancy Zimmerman launched Bracebridge Capital alongside Gabe Sunshine with early backing from David Swensen, applying relative value models developed during her time at O'Connor & Associates. Read more →
- Institutional friction prevents algorithmic trading from eliminating bond market mispricings. Read more →
- Nancy Zimmerman co-founded Bracebridge Capital in 1994 alongside Gabe Sunshine, backed early by Yale endowment head David Swensen. Read more →
6 articles from this episode
Bracebridge Capital: Why Public Goods Beat Pod Shop Alpha
Nancy Zimmerman explains how Bracebridge Capital aligns fixed income arbitrage teams using David Swensen's talent principles and shared internal tools.
Nancy Zimmerman on Fixed Income Arbitrage and Capital Mismatches
Nancy Zimmerman details how Bracebridge Capital extracts relative value alpha across rates, structured credit, corporates, and emerging markets.
Nancy Zimmerman on Arbitrage, Liquidity, and 80-Cent Treasuries
Nancy Zimmerman shares how Bracebridge Capital sizes relative value positions, manages crisis drawdowns, and buys mispriced debt during market panics.
Why Fixed Income Inefficiencies Persist: Nancy Zimmerman
Bracebridge Capital's Nancy Zimmerman explains why institutional constraints and mechanical ETF flows keep fixed income mispricings alive.
Nancy Zimmerman on Pricing Securities vs. Investing
Bracebridge Capital co-founder Nancy Zimmerman explains why mathematical pricing models fail without true portfolio risk construction.
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