Kissick and make up: Ares replaces board member
Ares Management has appointe a replacement to its board of directors as retired Ares co-founder John Kissick steps down

S&P prescribes Akorn with triple-C rating amid possible bankruptcy
Akorn, a pharmaceutical company, has been downgraded to triple-C by S&P, following the announcement that Akorn has agreed plans to sell all its assets to repay debt as part of its standstill agreement extension

CLOs feel flat after housing $335 million of bankrupt RentPath
CLOs house $334.5 million of the debt of RentPath Holdings, which filed for Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Wednesday

The Last Tranche with Octagon’s Lam: 2017 CLO refis and ‘no man’s land’ in loans
Spreads, investors and manager consolidation take focus in February's edition of The Last Tranche

Credit Rendezvous: the outlook in 2020 across a dozen segments of the credit market
Welcome to the Credit Rendezvous, the first instalment of a regular feature published by Creditflux that tracks credit market dynamics in a dozen segments from investment grade, liquid loans, CLOs and CSOs all the way through to distressed debt. We view this as the meeting point for credit specialists across strategies to share their perspectives

California pension looks to cut liquid credit allocations
Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association will likely cut back on liquid credit and completely remove hedge fund allocations in 2020.. But the pension is optimistic about core bonds – and may include it as a new asset class

Pimco plans to outperform come rain or shine with $4.5bn all-weather fund
Pimco has become the latest manager to fashion a flexible, all weather credit fund that invests across public and private markets, geographies and capital structures. The Newport Beach-based manager is hoping to raise $3 billion for the strategy. With half a turn of leverage, it could have up to $4.5 billion to deploy.

Repricing spike points to sharp spread compression

Fund performance: Presents under the tree as CLO funds perform

Credit funds at a glance

You need a balanced portfolio that’s ready for calculated risk taking — so consider a barbell approach
Investors can’t afford to be too conservative as they prepare for the end of the cycle

LSTA poses ESG quiz to borrowers
The Loans Syndications and Trading Association has published an environmental, social and governance questionnaire which it anticipates will provide the loan market with a standardised tool to collect ESG-related information from borrowers

Bifurcation in loan market will continue in 2020, says MUFG
Bifurcation in the leveraged loan market, a trend that dominated the market in 2019, looks set to continue in 2020, according to MUFG’s co-head of debt capital markets Jeffrey Knowles

Licence and registration: loan spreads get speeding ticket as CLOs play catch-up
The sharp rally in corporate credit means that CLO spreads are going to have to rapidly follow suit with investors informing Creditflux that US CLO triple As should be pricing at 105-107 basis points to make deal economics work. 

McDermott slips into bankruptcy with CLOs holding almost $1 billion
42 CLO managers hold $957.6 million of the debt of McDermott International, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday. Under the plan, McDermott’s term loan and revolving lenders will receive 94% of McDermott’s reorganised equity and $500 million in take back senior secured term loans. Term loan claims are expected to recover 84%, according to a disclosure statement 

Job opportunities with BNY Mellon: corporate trust group
BNY Mellon has released details of six vacancies

BlueBay hires senior credit trader in the US
BlueBay Asset Management has appointed a senior credit trader in the US

US loan trading: McDermott downgrade leads to CLO outflows as managers board rail road firm
US freight railroads operator Genesee & Wyoming allocated its $2.55 billion term loan in November, making it the most popular issuer in the month. And CLO managers were sceptical of the outlook for McDermott Technology - signalled by $185.9 net outflows - after Moody's downgraded its corporate family rating from B3 to Caa2 

Pimco launches listed multi-sector global credit fund
Known as Pimco Tactical Income Fund, the fund will invest in a range of global credit strategies and will list on the New York Stock Exchange

MUFG adds to US leveraged finance unit with senior hire from Deutsche Bank
A senior credit specialist has left Deutsche bank in New York after 10 years in order to join MUFG

36% of US loans could be repriced amid rally, finds Nomura

Nomura calculates that about 36% of loans are eligible for a repricing. It bases this on the number of loans that are immediately callable, have near-term call risk or are a potential call risk if the loan market continues to rally

CLOs face losses as Constellis loan drops to 28.5
32 CLO managers hold $640.4 million of Constellis Holdings’ debt, which Moody's downgraded to C after the company missed an amortisation payment due 31 December

CBAM plans expansion with new $60 million credit facility
CBAM has closed a $60 million credit facility to refinance a working capital facility to its parent company Eldridge Industries