Despite the fact that some distressed investors have abandoned the market in the last few years as the supply of new defaulted debt has diminished, there still exists an impressive number of investors who specialize in this rather unique asset class. The primary vehicle for investing is a limited partnership, whereby a particular distressed-asset investment manager raises funds from financial institutions and wealthy individuals. Also, increasingly we observe institutions putting together a distressed or restructuring fund in order to place money with a small number of distressed securities managers who have different styles and preferences (., active vs. passive investors -- see below)
