Apollo appoints head of credit valuations from sell-side
Apollo has appointed a head of credit valuations, as its previous head of credit valuations has transitioned internally to cover private equity valuations

DFG appoints CEO and makes several promotions including new co-CIO
A Partners Group official has been appointed chief executive officer of DFG Investment Advisers in New York as the firm makes several leadership promotions

Ares holds €6.97 billion first close on European direct lending fund
Ares Management Group has collected $12 billion in gross credit commitments over the third quarter of the year, according to the firm’s earnings presentation, including $8.2 billion for the first closing of its fifth European direct lending fund

Alcentra hires Mulshine as head of US distribution
Alcentra has hired a new head of US distribution from Lazard

Loomis Sayles promotes deputy CIO to top job
Loomis Sayles has named a replacement chief investment officer, following the retirement of incumbent CIO Jae Park

Antares names loan head successor following retirement
Peter Nolan, head of loan syndicate, sales and trading at Antares Capital is set to retire from the $27 billion firm

Credit Rendezvous: sometimes you have to dive deep to find value
Some parts of the credit market are fraught with danger, but that does not mean portfolio managers are avoiding them entirely, according to the Credit Rendezvous, Creditflux's 10-page quarterly report eaturing comments from 15 credit experts

[update] Beneath the triple C: theme parks take portfolios on downward ride
Seven corporate debt issuers were downgraded to triple C or below in September by Moody’s or Standard and Poor’s – hurting $2.16 billion of US CLO loans and €1.16 billion of European CLO portfolio. The pace of CLO loan downgrades to triple C has slowed steadily since the peak in April

Värde names deputy CEO and several promotions
The transitional appointments follow George Hicks, co-founder and co-CEO, saying in July last year he would move to an executive chair role by the end of 2021

Z Capital hires from DFG and CVC
Z Capital Group has added loan specialists from CVC Credit Partners and DFG Investment Group in New York

CLO collateral managers who are able to update their documents could gain warf advantage
Moody’s is reviewing its approach to warf. Changes could boost managers’ ability to trade

Libor floors and Volcker tweak bode well for future of CLOs
It’s been a truly miserable year, but amid all the despair covered so tirelessly by the mainstream media has been an omission; namely, that CLOs have withstood the damage caused by the pandemic

CLO rally keeps primary market flowing for most prolific issuers
The rally in CLO liabilities in September has given fresh impetus to the primary CLO market, which has benefitted from almost six months of favourable market dynamics

Questions will need answering about where a manager's fiduciary responsibility lies
A university lecturer gives Welshcake a shock with a CLO presentation that points to shady trading games

Sovereign wealth funds empower direct lenders
Sovereign wealth funds are turning toward the booming private credit market, with three massive partnerships formed this year

Academic highlights 1.0 CLO inflationary and cross-trading practices
CLO managers during and after the 2008 financial crisis used discretion in reporting the fair value of defaulted assets or loans downgraded to triple C, and may have inflated these fair values, according to a research presentation at Creditflux’s CLO Symposium in September

Methodology tweaks could prove a boost for CLO warfs
Moody’s proposed CLO methodology changes could impact 8% of US and European CLO tranches positively, the rating agency says

Credit hedge funds (October 2020)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Ucits at a glance: Advent and Algebris edge towards double digit returns
Two managers stand out in the Ucits rankings as they close in on 10% YTD figures

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

Fund performance: A third of funds reach positive territory in 2020
August has been another successful month for the CLO category as seven of the top 10 funds invest primarily in CLOs

Credit fundraising: managers build homes for real estate credit funds
The “largest ever real estate credit fund” was one of the fundraising highlights last month as Blackstone’s Real Estate Debt Strategies IV fund reached $8 billion on its final close

Voya loan co-head Norman set to retire
Dan Norman is set to leave Voya Investment Management, where he co-heads the senior loan team, at the end of the year

LP round up: $5 billion flows to credit as private market allocations increase
Global institutional investors allocated nearly $5 billion to credit funds this week, according to documents seen by Creditflux

Barings and PGIM win loan and structured credit mandates as pension puts £2.7bn in credit
The firms will manage global syndicated loans, securitised credit, emerging market debt and global high yield credit for Border to Coast Pension Partnership's £2.7 billion ($3.43 billion) multi-asset credit fund