Credit funds at a glance (February 2022)
A round up of fundraising and people moves in credit

Booster mandates leave unvaccinated further in the cold
US credit asset managers are starting to make coronavirus vaccination boosters part of their recruitment policy requirements, sources say.

Fund performance: Wasserstein's early 2021 performance drives it to the top
The final top 10 of 2021 featured a variety of funds as five different strategies were ranked among the best. US high yield was the most highly represented with two BlackRock funds and an Angel Oak in the top 10

Ucits at a glance: Robus claims top spot in 2021 after tight race
Ucits funds have ended 2021 on a high as 62% made positive returns in December

Barclays seeks head of SRT risk
Barclays is looking to hire a head of SRT risk for its wholesale credit portfolio, having established a credit risk transfer programme under the Colonnade branding 

Apollo hires ex-JP Morgan CLO co-head to lead new Apac credit business
Apollo Global Management has hired three from Commonwealth Bank to lead the fim’s Asia Pacific credit business

SEC warns private fund investors about misleading fund disclosure and due diligence failures
The US Secuties & Exchange Commission published a risk alert on Friday detailing a range of compliance issues it has observed in examining registered private fund advisers 

Broad sell-off as market moves to price five or more Fed hikes
Financial market sentiment has taken another dive in the wake of the US Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, with many taking Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s comment that “this cycle is different from the previous one” to mean a steeper tightening than previously thought

Credit Rendezvous: the upside of inflation
It is clear, inflation is not transitory and central banks are acting with several interest rate hikes likely in store for the US this year. That makes loans and CLO debt tranches attractive, but there could be opportunities beyond these floating rate assets

Three-month term Sofr spikes ahead of rate hikes to bridge gap to Libor
Three-month term Sofr rates have shot up in the last few days with sources saying March interest rate hikes are being fully priced in. Three-month Sofr hit 17.11 basis points on Friday having been at 14.52bp on Tuesday and just 9.11bp at the start of the year.

Gapstow expects strategic deals as credit manager M&A volume slumps to $120 billion
M&A volume involving credit asset managers dropped last year with total target value assets under management slumping to $120 billion from $149 billion in 2020 (and $254 billion in 2019), according to Gapstow Capital Partners

Natixis hires head of leverage finance syndication in New York
Natixis has hired a managing director to head up its leveraged finance syndication

Värde promotes three credit specialists to partner
Värde Partners has promoted Jim Dunbar, Aneek Mamik and Carlos Sanz Esteve to partner

Investors take nuanced approach to ESG as they move on from negative screening: Elfa
European bond and loan investors have evolved their ESG investment frameworks with 86% saying that they integrate ESG factors 'systematically and explicitly' in their investment process

RBC hires head of European loan trading from NatWest
RBC Capital Markets has built out its leveraged finance and financial sponsors banking business in Europe to capture “the shift of capital from the public to the private realm and win mandates on increasingly larger, marquee transactions”

Investcorp hires senior official to lead new Los Angeles office
The firm has expanded its US presence in the west coast and has hired a senior official responsible for growing investor relationships in the region

US pensions assign $1.5 billion to 16 credit managers in December
US public pensions rounded off 2021 by gifting credit managers around $1.5 billion in commitments, according to documents seen by Creditflux

Banks and loans to benefit in 2022 as safe havens dwindle
Safe havens and sector pitfalls are among some of the top considerations for portfolio managers this year, as a consensus forms that credit could suffer versus other asset classes

Credit hedge funds (January 2022)
Credit hedge fund returns

Ucits at a glance: Robus and Altana dip but stay at the top
In October, Ucits funds continued a slide that had begun the previous month with 60% of them in the red

Credit funds at a glance (January 2022)
A round up of fundraising and people moves in credit

LP round up: CLO fund included in whopping $13 billion of credit allocations in November
Credit took centre stage in November as investors allocated over $13 billion to credit funds in the month, with one pension allocating $50 million for a European CLO risk retention fund 

Lev loan index rule change proposed to meet Sofr switch
Leveraged loan index stakeholders are being asked for feedback on a proposal that would allow the inclusion of loans linked to Sofr and scrap a minimum spread rule

Firm claims to cut loan settlement times with blockchain based securitisation
Cadeia, a German technology firm, claims to have undertaken the first ever fully blockchain based corporate loan securitisation transaction

Axa IM raises €1.2 billion for SRTs
Axa Investment Managers has closed Partner Capital Solutions VIII, a significant risk transfer (SRT) strategy, at roughly €1.2 billion, according to an announcement.