Credit Rendezvous: Make yourself comfortable, there’s a storm coming
In our Q1 outlook, we speak to Edwin Wilches, PGIM (US CLOs), Mikkel Sckerl and Flemming Dose, Capital Four (European CLOs),  Jim Fitzpatrick, CQS (US loans), Loic Prevot, Polus (European loans), Madelaine Jones, Oaktree (global high yield), Art Penn, Pennant Park (US direct lending), Mattis Poetter, Arcmont (European direct lending), Keerthi Raghavan, Waterfall (structured credit), Ray Costa, Benefit Street (distressed), Grant Webster, Ninety One (Emerging markets), Oumar Diallo, Aeon (real assets) for their views for the upcoming quarter. 

FS and Portfolio Advisors join forces to create $73bn asset manager
FS Investments and Portfolio Advisors have announced a merger in a deal which will see Portfolio Advisors become the institutional investment arm of FS

Fund performance: Credit funds end difficult 2022 on a positive note
In December 66% of credit funds reached a positive return, following an even better November where 81% of all funds pushed into the black

Credit hedge fund returns (February 2023)
Credit hedge fund returns

Credit funds at a glance (February 2023)
A round up of people moves and fundraising

BC Credit targets $1.25 billion for third opportunistic credit fund
BC Partners Credit plans to deploy half the fund in private lending and structured equity opportunities and the other half in specialty lending and dislocated liquid credit deals

Senior Investcorp official lands at wealth manager
A well-known name in the CLO industry has landed at a wealth management firm 

ICG hires former BlueMountain lev loan and HY senior analyst
Intermediate Capital Group has hired a senior analyst focusing on liquid credit

PSP and Aimco form credit partnership as Aimco poaches its global credit head
Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (Aimco) have struck a remarkable agreement which sees the pair jointly invest in credit and the transfer of a senior figure. 

SEC charges former BlackRock PM with undisclosed conflict of interest
The Securities and Exchange Commission said it has charged a former BlackRock portfolio manager for failing to disclose a conflict of interest in a fund he managed from 2015 to 2019

LA pension awards $675 million to illiquid credit managed account
The strategy will invest across asset-backed credit, loans, bonds, and specialty finance

Mini loan recovery helps primary pipeline re-emerge
Better than expected inflation numbers at the start of November lifted loan prices to an extent that the primary market for leveraged loans opened up, allowing for a number of regular new issue deals to clear the market

Fund performance: Light at the end of the tunnel for credit funds after difficult year
Following a tough September, credit funds bounced back in October as 59% of funds made positive returns.

Credit hedge fund returns (December 2023)
Credit hedge fund returns

Credit funds at a glance (December 2023)
A round up of fundraising and people moves in credit

LP round up: 27 managers find the top corner with investor wins
Credit fund managers like to take it one fund at a time and give it 110% for their 90-minute investor fund pitches - and it's working as $3.8 billion was allocated during November and early December. The gaffer would be proud. 

Public credit markets "most attractive for 15 years" says Wamco
The US Federal Reserve is helping to create the potential for the "most attractive opportunity in public credit markets in the last 15 years", according to a research note published by Western Asset Management

Manager looks to cut HY exposures in CLO-heavy credit interval fund
A credit fund manager has provided a performance update on is multi-strategy closed-end credit fund through regulatory filings, revealing it has beat its benchmark from 1 April to 30 September despite losing 13.66%

Sculptor and Och reconcile as sale process kicks off
Sculptor Capital Management is looking for a buyer after forming a special committee and building bridges with its founder Daniel Och

CLO investors set to lose out as CSA-less amendment passes
Covanta’s US loan amendment, which will result in a benchmark switch to Sofr without a credit spread adjustment, has passed. This will be a blow to CLO managers and, ultimately, CLO investors

CLO managers to jump into action as Covanta loan proposal omits spread adjustment
Covanta Holdings is the latest example of a US loan issuer looking to switch benchmark from Libor to Sofr, but without an accompanying credit spread adjustment

Up to 40% more US loan supply will hit primary market next year: Barclays
US leveraged loan supply in 2023 will outstrip this year’s tally by a good margin, according to Barclays credit strategists in New York. But it will remain below average, particularly given the increased size of the index

Proposed SEC rules "possibly existential" for open-ended loan funds, says LSTA
The US Securities and Exchange Commission's upcoming new rule focusing on liquidity management in open-ended funds could have “possibly existential” and negative implications for loan mutual funds and exchange traded funds in its current form, according to the LSTA

Cairn begins "new chapter" as it rebrands to Polus
Cairn Capital has been renamed Polus Capital Management, which brings it together with Bybrook Capital, the credit asset manager it acquired in 2021.  

Fund performance: Wake us up when September ends
After a resurgent August, credit markets hit a rough patch in September, with every Creditflux index posting negative returns, and only 12.9% of funds in our listings showing a positive return.