Points up front: Channelling Twain, Agent Smith and Mike Tyson
Lockdown can adversely affect one’s grasp of reality, and for credit portfolio managers this has manifested itself in a penchant for quoting famous (sometimes fictional) figures

Morgan Stanley hires leveraged loan MD from Credit Suisse
Morgan Stanley has hired a leveraged loan managing director in London with over 15 years' market experience

US and Europe diverge as loan trading bands emerge on the continent
Europe and the US are on different courses with credit indices having drifted apart over the past month, say trading sources. Europe is expected to suffer fewer defaults to the extent that "it’s getting quite difficult for borrowers to default”, as one source put it. But the US has "higher growth potential due to its more dynamic economy"

Four managers join forces on gigantic £1.9 billion unitranche
The supersized transaction to Ardonagh Group, led by Ares, is the largest ever unitranche facility

Bridgepoint buys EQT's credit business - report
Bridgepoint is buying the credit business of EQT, according to the Financial Times

CLOs dodge offshore driller as restructuring credit event question posed
The Americas Determinations Committee has been asked to rule on whether UK headquartered offshore driller Valaris has triggered a restructuring credit event

LP round-up: mighty Oaks win $1 billion apiece from Calpers
Credit investors allocated over $3 billion to 18 credit managers this week across a wide range of strategies

Värde targets $1 billion for inaugural dedicated credit dislocation fund
Värde is seeking to raise $1 billion for its dislocation and distressed debt fund, according to an investor presentation seen by Creditflux. The firm is targeting a first close this month

Sculptor CEO Shafir to step down with CIO taking dual role
Sculptor Capital Management has announced that its chief investment officer will take also take on the role of chief executive officer, effective 1 April 2021

Carlyle-backed firm introduces breakthrough ESG-linked term loan
Logoplaste Consultores Técnicos has become the first issuer to launch a term loan with the interest linked to environmental, social and governance factors

Neuberger launches 'flexible' global credit Ucits fund with $200 million
Neuberger Berman has launched a flexible global credit Ucits fund to expand its $150 billion fixed income platform

Beneath the triple C: downgrade rate slows as $8 billion of CLO loans tumble
May offered some respite to CLO portfolios as corporate downgrades to triple C were reduced heavily - affecting just $6.67 billion of US CLO paper and €1.09 billion of European CLO portfolios

Oaktree mixes defensive with opportunistic in new fund for recent hire
Oaktree Capital Management has launched a standalone absolute return fixed income fund for recent hire Brad Boyd, according to market sources

Pandemic underlines importance of the S in ESG as compliant companies outperform
For years, assessing environmental risks has been at the forefront of ESG (environmental, social, governance) investing, but there’s been a greater appreciation of the ‘S’ in ESG since the market sell-off in March

Oak Hill launches 'tactical' investment fund
Oak Hill Advisors is on the fundraising trail with regulatory filings indicating the credit specialist is launching a vehicle known as OHA Tactical Investment Fund

PGIM prepares listed credit fund
PGIM is marketing a ‘flexible’ listed fund, dubbed PGIM Strategic Credit Fund , to invest at least 80% across fixed income

Some managers calculated their CLOs were passing OC tests, only to find them failing the next day
Corporate credit downgrade storms have been weathered before, but this one has come out of season

Europe’s newcomers find ways to stand out
Last year’s new European CLO managers needed to provide something different for investors. In general, they’ve succeeded, with Capital Four having one of the smallest overlap figures in our data

Investcorp targets most liquid loans for new European credit fund
Investcorp Credit Management is targeting “the largest and most liquid European issues” after raising €318 million for a levered credit fund that invests in European loans

CLOs look at flipping frequency switch as corporates hold cash
European CLOs could be set to flick their ‘frequency switch mechanisms’ as a growing number of corporations go from paying quarterly to semi-annual coupons

CLOs face trading restrictions as bankruptcies mount
CLO managers could be handcuffed in impending bankruptcies if tranche downgrades continue and restricted trading periods kick in

Libor fall weighs heavily on loan and CLO portfolios
Libor floors are set to return to prominence after three-month rates tumbled to 0.38% by 18 May, returning the loan market’s base rate to its lowest level since the oil and gas crisis of 2014-16

A different kind of crisis
Panellists on Creditflux’s US CLO webinar were positive about the robustness of CLO structures and the role of cure contributions. But they warned about zombie defaults and gaming tests

Fund performance: CLO tranches move up
April returns managed a partial bounce back after a tumultuous March. 82% of funds listed in the Creditflux database made positive returns, showing at least small signs of recovery after 90% of all funds listed posted negative returns in March

Credit funds at a glance (June 2020)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves