Buyout Highlights – Overview of Europe Buyout and Financing Trends 1H26
The European Buyout Highlights 1H26 shows that activity rebounded strongly in the first six months of the year, with aggregate sponsor-backed deal value rising 86% year over year to EUR 110.2bn, signaling a recovery in large-cap M&A despite a softer transaction environment overall

Investor demand strongest for European PC CLOs – Golub
EXCLUSIVE: Investor demand is stronger for European private credit CLOs than any other segment of the CLO market, according to Golub Capital’s Landis Wood

US SRT issuance volumes should increase in 2H – Crescent Capital
EXCLUSIVE: The firm projects 2026 global SRT issuance to hit USD 45bn after the first half of 2026 logged a record USD 18bn of issuance activity, Penny Tan, a senior director focused on bank capital solutions, told Creditflux

Bridgepoint closes fourth direct lending fund with EUR 5.1bn, topping target
The fund had previously set a fundraising target of EUR 4bn for Bridgepoint Direct Lending IV

HPS prices AAAs at 125bps for newest European CLO
HPS has priced a new European CLO via Jefferies, with RBC acting as a co-placement agent on the EUR 405m issue of Aqueduct European CLO 18

Ardian taps Carlyle’s MacKenzie to lead European CLO business
Caryle’s former head of liquid credit Stuart MacKenzie has been hired by Ardian to run its European CLO business

Barings resets first European private credit CLO as reinvesting deal
The manager's inaugural 2024 static issue was reworked on a 1.5Y/4.5Y timetable, and now includes a sterling-denominated triple A tranche, with the dual-currency format establishing itself as the standard for this type of deal

PGIM adopts more conservative approach ahead of expected ongoing volatility
EXCLUSIVE: Volatility set to continue across the second half of the year in the European CLO market, predicts Gianluca Consoli, European leveraged finance portfolio manager at PGIM

LGT Capital Partners prices fourth CLO
Legato Euro CLO IV was arranged by Morgan Stanley and attracted orders from over 20 existing and new investors across the capital structure

Michael Curtis leaves Fidelity as firm begins search for new co-PM
EXCLUSIVE: Michael Curtis will leave his role as head of alternative credit at Fidelity Investments on 31 July, according to a source familiar

Partners matches current Euro AAA tight with newest CLO
Partners' newest European CLO, Penta CLO 23, issued its top-of-stack paper at 124bps over Euribor

M&G establishes joint venture with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to back further CLO issuance
M&G Investments has established a joint venture with global institutional investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to support the scaling of a multi-billion-Euro CLO platform

Aston Martin enters drop-down deal with HPS, Victoria gets more than 90% support for 2028s extension – Europe Distressed Digest
Aston Martin’s bonds came under pressure after a report emerged on 17 July that the carmaker was in talks with HPS Investment Partners over a potential asset-backed financing that could prime existing creditors

Distressed double Bs are a better-kept secret of the credit market – CIFC
EXCLUSIVE: Distressed double Bs represent hidden value in the credit markets, according to CIFC’s Jay Huang

Fidelity issues new Euro CLO
Fidelity has priced a new European CLO through Bank of America, with the triple A paper split across one note and two loan tranches

BlackRock highlights Euro CLO AAA debt opportunities in 3Q outlook
BlackRock has identified triple A-rated European CLO tranches as continuing to offer attractive opportunities in the current fixed income market, in the asset manager’s third-quarter fixed income outlook

Ares' newest European CLO prints AAAs at 125bps
Ares' latest Euro BSL issue has priced through BNP Paribas, with the conventionally-structured deal valued at just over EUR 405m

Golub adds managing director to European direct lending team
Timothée Delisle previously held positions at firms such as Morgan Stanley, Alcentra, BlackRock, and HSBC

Chenavari sees investment staff departures as credit fund actively hires
Investment employee departures occurred in recent months; Nicolas Verle, Nicholas Yu, and Aidan Reynolds recently joined Chenavari

Blackstone, Wellington and Vanguard collaborate on all-in-one private market vehicles for wealth channel
The three asset managers have launched two products that will give individual investors exposure to a mix of private market assets within a single allocation

CIFC, TPG Credit print European CLO resets
CIFC paired with Goldman Sachs to issue a reworking of its first European CLO that originally priced in 2019, while TPG's repricing of its 2022-vintage Northwoods Capital 26 Euro was arranged through Citi

Consumer giants' portfolio overhaul pushes M&A to near-record highs
Unilever leads consumer giants’ retreat from underperforming categories; dealmakers shift attention toward fast-growing categories in beauty, health and wellness

Dispersion is creating value in credit despite tight spreads – PIMCO
PODCAST: While index spreads remain tight, dispersion is quite elevated, which rewards those who do the credit work, says Lotfi Karoui, multi-asset credit strategist at fixed-income behemoth PIMCO, on the latest episode of Credit Exchange with Lisa Lee

CLO manager rankings by AUM – Q2 2026
The latest Creditflux CLO manager AUM rankings sees stability in the top rankings following a shake-up in the top 3 last quarter – but a little further down, CIFC has moved ahead of UBS to snare seventh overall behind Ares, while Benefit Street Partners edged out CVC to move into the top 10

GoldenTree hits USD 2.75bn hard cap for sophomore private credit fund
The firm’s employees and partners committed USD 50m to the fund, the company announced