"All that remains is to thank all of you who have kept faith with my monthly confessions of insanity"
With the economic outlook now beyond a joke, Welshcake signs off amid denials he is actually a Welsh footballer  

"Conditions making deal financing challenging for issuers can harm beneficial terms for investors"
Direct lending terms look better than at any point in the past decade. But is there enough to go around?

Octaura's first fully electronic syndicated loans trade

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

Lights go out for Heritage Power with 120 CLOs left in the dark
US based power plant operator Heritage Power filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the bankruptcy court of Texas on Tuesday night, impacting $124.45 million of assets held by 120 US CLOs.

Serta Simmons makes its bed again with default leaving CLOs with a restless night
$172.5 million of CLO assets defaulted on Monday after Serta Simmons Bedding filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

CLO community pulls together to block Wellpet loan amendment
The power the CLO community can wield – if members stick together – has been underlined after a loan amendment proposed by Wellpet failed to pass

Loan amendment alert: Wellpet offers 10bp CSA
Wellpet has issued a loan amendment request with a view to including a 10 basis points credit spread adjustment (CSA), market sources say. Although this is an improvement on recent amendments it still falls short, according to CLO investors.

Beneath the triple C: Life could be better, but it’s just a letter, under the CCC
Many market participants were eagerly looking forward to a break in December after a gruelling year, but the rating agencies were in no mood to oblige. 

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

Fitch raises low end of its default forecasts for US leveraged loans and high yield
Fitch Ratings has increased the low end of its US leveraged loan and high yield default forecast ranges to reflect growing macroeconomic headwinds

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

Loan managers must act to prevent CSA leakage, say CLO investors
CLO investors have made clear that managers need to stay on top of US loan amendments that are switching benchmark from Libor to Sofr

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

Are we ready for another crisis?
Credit managers must brace themselves for stress in 2023, as rates rise and the number of poor performing assets increases. But most CLOs look well-placed and can rely on plump OC cushions 

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

"This ‘higher rates for longer’ saga is more like the 1920-21 depression than the 1970s high inflation era"
Sometimes you have to swallow your medicine and take a step back to go forwards

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%