GSO adds $10 billion to inflows with direct lending, structured credit and energy
Blackstone grew its credit assets under management to $139.3 billion, up 13% on a year ago, according to the firm's second quarter earnings release

Investor requirements rather than performance is driving ESG push: Creditflux survey
Only 14% of respondents to Creditflux's global credit ESG survey said performance was the main reason they were adopting envoronmental, social and governance-themed strategies

Calpers misses returns target despite fixed income outperformance
California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) has missed its annual investment target despite strong performance from its fixed income portfolio, which was its top performer  

Tourists have turned high yield into a sketchier neighbourhood… IG credit could be the answer
Using CDS to exploit roll-down in IG credit can generate good returns even in a low-rate environment

Direct lenders pin hopes on ESG as risk management tool
Strategies geared towards environmental, social and governance (ESG) may have originally been popularised at the behest of pension funds seeking responsible investments, but there are growing hopes that incorporating ESG will help fund managers outperform in a downturn.

Axa IM finds replacement for top fixed income role
Axa Investment Managers has appointed Christophe Herpet as global head of Axa fixed income and its buy and maintain division

European loan trading: CLO managers snack on Ifco loans
35 CLO managers were holding €364.2 million  €364.2 million of IFCO’s loans in April – all at par

JP Morgan AM names CEO with Willcox set to leave
JP Morgan Asset Management’s chief executive officer Chris Willcox will step down from his job at the end of the year, according to an internal memo seen by Creditflux

UK pension scheme quits tobacco
Nest is set to go tobacco free across all its investments, with the largest UK pension master trust expecting that the process will take up to two years.  

Senior figure rejoins Credit Suisse to head European capital markets
The bank is looking to build out its key European platforms - and has hired an official who left just last summer 

US pension replaces Cliffwater with Meketa
Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds has selected Meketa as a consultant to oversee its opportunistic investments, which consists of direct lending and opportunistic credit investments, along with investments in hedge funds and real assets.  

HSBC pension chief joins London CIV in top role
London Collective Investment Vehicle (London CIV) has appointed Mark Thompson to serve as chief investment officer (CIO), effective from September.  

Rallye CDS auction date set with three initial deliverables
A credit event auction to settle CDS referencing Rallye, the parent of French supermarket chain Casino, will take place on 27 June, with the Determinations Committee having agreed an initial list of three deliverable obligations

Deutsche Bank hires emerging market credit trader
Deutsche Bank has added to its credit team in London by hiring a trader of emerging market cash debt and CDS

PE hold periods have shrunk but fast acquisitions can lead to botched integrations
Buyout multiples are likely to stay high – but moving fast and specialising can help firms make money

New kids on the block dominate awards

Budge up, more new managers are coming

Market bemoans Europe’s lack of CLO manager tiering
Manager tiering became a hot topic in Europe again last month following Credit Suisse Asset Management’s decision to break with tradition by syndicating its triple A notes in Madison Park Euro Funding XIV, rather than place the notes with an anchor investor.

Cayman Island hopping: EU laws provoke switch in CLO listings
The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX) is set to become the listing place of choice in 2019 for CLOs put together by US managers — at least, according to a bold prediction by law firm Harneys.

Being fully invested can have a greater impact on IRRs than avoiding 2% defaults annually
The IRR differential can be as much as 3.3% for a fully invested CLO versus one that maintains a 5% cash balance

Doing CLOs is hard work as recovery lags
There’s scrutiny on staffing, structures and, of course, ‘the challenging arb’. But Q4 volatility created opportunity, which led speakers at the Creditflux CLO Symposium to ask for more

Credit funds at a glance

Fund performance

Mizuho appoints US and European credit trading heads in leadership shake-up
The hires include a newly created CLO role, head of credit trading, and head of special situations and illiquid trading