Institutional loans set records while ratings agency data diverges
It isn’t just the CLO market breaking records this year. Loan volumes are also continuing to set records, according to the latest Debtwire data for November.

Fund performance
Entering the final three months of the year, CLO funds took a clean sweep of the top 10 spots in the Creditflux tables. October was strong overall, as over 85% of funds listed made positive returns

Altice France reminds creditors that unrestricted subsidiaries can be freely spun-off
Altice France's debt documents permit the XpFibre spin-off, and most credit agreements and high yield bond indentures permit the distribution of the equity in unrestricted subsidiaries

Trump victory raises hopes for high yield markets, M&A revival
Leverage finance markets cheered Donald Trump’s win on the prospect the former president’s return to the White House will unleash deregulation and M&A, lower taxes and higher economy growth

Octaura launches new protocol for CLO liquidations
Electronic loan trading platform Octaura has released a new set of processes to streamline loan BWICs and OWICs

JetBlue's new loan struggles to take flight
CLO managers had less appetite for JetBlue’s new loan after the airline was downgraded to B3 and B- 

Apollo picks up two hires from Bank of America
Investment bankers Tomasz Gruszka and Murad Khaled have joined Apollo and an affiliate from Bank of America

BNP Paribas announces negotiations to buy AXA IM
BNP Paribas said it entered exclusive talks to buy AXA's asset management unit and set-up a partership for EUR 5.1bn

Loan repricings continue to flood the primary market ahead of August lull
The US primary loan market has seen a steady flow of well-bid deals this week that were either upsized or priced tighter

Leveraged loan issuance tops USD 1tn in record-setting first half
US leveraged loan issuance has jumped 91.2% year-on-year in the first six months of 2024, reaching USD 1tn for the first time on record

European CLOs are sticking with Altice, research finds
Altice’s debt has been one of the biggest headaches for the CLO market in Europe this year but most managers have refrained from selling the debt according to a recent research report

Strong run helps CLOs shrug off Altice downgrade
It may be the largest triple C downgrade in years, but the CLO market is relatively unperturbed by Altice’s fall from grace.

US loan volume nears record levels
In Q1 2024 quarterly institutional loan issuance reached its second highest level on record. The period also saw the lowest quarterly share of new money issuance, at just 13% of total activity

Credit hedge funds
Credit hedge fund performance

Relative to Airbus, Boeing was long accountants but short engineers
A qualitative approach can help investors spot boards that are too focused on short-term returns

IACPM survey finds credit PMs still gloomy, but less so than last quarter
Respondents to the latest IACPM Credit Outlook Survey are still negative about future credit conditions, but less so than in previous surveys

AlbaCore expands with senior research hires
London-based AlbaCore Capital Group announced the expansion of its investment team last week, with the addition of a new Head of Research

Global Loan Highlights 1Q24: Don’t call it a comeback
Loan refinancing share hits historic high, but IG issuance stymies YoY global growth

Houlihan Lokey adds new credit MD
Investment bank Houlihan Lokey released news yesterday of a new managing director hired to the firm’s Financial Sponsors Group 

Muni shop expands into leveraged finance with slew of senior hires
Boutique investment bank Middlegate Securities has announced the formation and launch of Middlegate Global Credit, a new leveraged finance division

February 2024 US Leveraged Highlights
Debtwire today releases the February 2024 US Leveraged Highlights, featuring key trends in the leveraged loan and high-yield bond markets.

Schroders Capital adds new global head of business development and product
Schroders Capital turned to ICG to source its newly-created role of global head of business development and product

Global corporate defaults on fastest pace since 2009 according to S&P
The number of corporate defaults has risen dramatically year-to-date, according to S&P Global Ratings, driven by a doubling of the rate of defaults in Europe

European companies reprice EUR 16bn of loans in 2024 as window opens
When the European loan market started to talk about rates peaking late in 2023, repricing rehearsed a comeback, but did so effectively in January this year

CLO managers laud market’s shift away from direct lending
This year’s annual SFVegas shindig had a record 8,900 registered delegates, and every CLO panel included a discussion of two key themes, including the highly publicised fight between the broadly syndicated loan space and private credit lenders.