ESG integration is part of fiduciary duty, finds UNPRI
The United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) report ‘Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century’, published late last month, concludes that ESG is a source of investment value, ending debate that using ESG criteria might violate fiduciary duties.

Proskauer promotes eight to partner in credit
Law firm Proskauer has promoted 15 lawyers to partners in its London, New York and Boston offices – including eight who work in credit

Distressed loans get IHS Markit workover as tech service aims to cut settlement times
IHS Markit is unveiling an electronic solution through its ClearPar platform aimed at simplifying trade settlement for distressed leveraged loans, an area that has greatly lagged efficiency in the par loans market    

CLO supply set for double-digit drop in 2020, says JP Morgan
US CLO supply in 2020 will be as much as 20% down on 2019, while European issuance will fall 13% year-on-year, predict JP Morgan strategists in a research note. Even so, new CLOs should still outpace existing deal paydowns, as well as high yield primary market net new issuance

Managers have leeway even after triggering key person event, finds Ropes & Gray
Almost all credit managers offer protection to investors that key employees will continue to manage the fund’s assets throughout its life, with 95% credit funds containing such "key person clauses". But that does not mean managers have their hands completely tied

Ucits at a glance
A round-up of ucits fund performance

Franklin Templeton reorganises long-short credit fund team
Asset manager Franklin Templeton Investments will make changes to the portfolio managers for the Franklin K2 Long Short Credit funds, effective from October

Purdue Pharma bankruptcy highlights value of ESG analysis
Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy this week, and the sector wide concern over the US opioid epidemic, has highlighted the utility of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards in credit analyses

BlueBay launches global leveraged finance fund
BlueBay Asset Management has launched a global leveraged finance fund that is able to allocate towards high yield bonds, leveraged loans, structured credit and investment grade assets

MacKay Shields integrates CVP's loan team while spinning out distressed debt
MacKay Shields has spun out the distressed debt business of Credit Value Partners and focus resources on CVP’s leveraged loan platform

US credit managers make ESG breakthrough after taking a first step via UNPRI
Incorporating a framework for investing in companies based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors is a challenge that US credit managers are accepting in growing numbers

THL updates credit investment framework to include ESG
THL Credit Advisors has announced that it has developed an investment framework for assessing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in analysing credit quality and risk factors

Guidelines fail to assuage fears over loose reporting standards
The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute’s new hedge fund reporting guidelines come into play next year, but some say they fall short of a much-needed overhaul.

Prepayments pose reinvestment dilemma for CLO managers
CLO managers globally could be left sitting on piles of cash amid an uptick in loan prepayments. Standard & Poor’s reported that institutional US loan prepayments had hit $26 billion in July, and more recently some widely-held CLO names are set to return principal to lenders, with financial data provider Refinitiv US Holdings and Italian telecom operator Wind Tre taking this route.

EQT looks to raise €500 million via IPO
The initial public offering is anticipated to increase EQT's flexbility to “pursue growth opportunities” and expand its private market investing business

Europe and US diverge on covenant lite structures
Direct lending is syphoning away traditional loan supply

Carval fashions 'flexible' global multi-strategy credit hedge fund
The open-ended fund will focus on non-control strategies including corporate securities, liquidations, loan portfolios and structured credit 

Apollo fee earnings rise 9% in Q2 as structured credit boosts portfolio
Apollo Global Management’s credit portfolio increased 4% quarter-over-quarter to $201 billion, driven by growth in affiliated life insurance firm Athene, as well as corporate credit and structured credit

Ares credit business grows 4.4%, driven by US direct lending
US and European direct lending, alternative credit and syndicated loan funds dove growth for Ares Management Corporation in the second quarter, the firm said

Net short language could force lenders to sell at a loss
Signs are growing that ‘net short’ provisions in bonds and loans are getting closer to hitting CDS investors, with two instances in recent weeks of the language expanding both in geographical and functional remit.

Credit plays a big part as KKR increases AUM by $6.5 billion
KKR grew its assets under management by 8% over the second quarter, according to the firm’s earnings call, which took place on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs creates sustainable finance group
Goldman Sachs has launched a sustainable finance group, to deliver sustainable growth solutions to the bank’s clients, according to documents seen by Creditflux.  

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