Frontier CDS auction to follow Lebanon and Whiting Petroleum
An auction to settle CDS referencing Frontier Communications will take place next month

Boston pension seeks distressed debt manager
Boston Retirement System is reissuing its private debt manager search and soliciting proposals from firms to manage a distressed debt mandate 

Italian banks push wider on EU coronabond stand-off
Political divisions over tackling the coronavirus economic crisis are front and foremost for European credit traders this week ahead of an EU leaders virtual summit on Thursday, with Italian and Spanish banks among today's worst performers in CDS

Credit Rendezvous: recovery begins, but is it U, V or even W?
Investing in credit is not as easy as ABC. The coronavirus crisis has crushed valuations and although most assets will eventually pull to par, no one is sure how the recovery will pan out

Extreme gap opens for basis traders as relief packages cause distortion
Evidence abounds for how government and central bank interventions in the coronavirus crisis are distorting credit markets, but one clear signal is the flip-around of the basis between corporate bonds and CDS in recent days

Fair Oaks issues shares to buy more CLO debt after 50% equity tranche hit
Fair Oaks Capital has issued new shares on its CLO fund at a premium to its net asset value to capitalise on CLO debt, which it says “offers attractive risk-adjusted returns over the medium term”

Global direct lending fundraising plummets in Q1
Global direct lending fundraising figures plummeted in the first quarter as coronavirus-related volatility kicked in. Managers raised just $9.4 billion raised across 11 funds compared to $18.6 billion across 15 in Q1 2019, according to Creditflux's fund database

Trouble brews for hard-hit credits despite improving optimism
Deutsche Lufthansa, Hema and Matalan are among credits pushing wider against the grain today as the European market tightens back within its recent narrower range

Pimco promotes European HY head to global head of loans
Pimco has promoted David Forgash to head of global leveraged loans and has appointed ex-Deutsche Bank official Roman Kogan to its European commercial real estate team 

Virginia pension allocates $850 million to credit in Q1
Virginia Retirement System has allocated $850 million to three credit strategies in the first quarter of the year, according to an update at its 15 April investment committee meeting

Neuberger Berman eyes $500 million fundraise for CLO opportunity fund
Neuberger Berman has become the latest manager to launch a CLO opportunity fund with the New York-headquartered manager looking to raise $500 million for the vehicle

Structured credit fund loses 32.4% in March as junior US CLO debt slumps
Volta Finance’s net asset value dropped 32.4% in March, according to a monthly report released yesterday. US CLO debt was the weakest performer for the structured credit fund, managed by Axa Investment Managers, losing 41.3%.

Credit pulled in different directions as coronavirus relief opens political divisions
A cautious tone surrounds the return of European credit trading after the long weekend - and the Fed-package furore that ended last week. Today's lack of European credit direction comes despite big rallies in Asia, better stock markets and an EU agreement on Friday for €500 billion in stimulus measures

US credit leads surge tighter on Fed package to close gap with Europe
What was already a much more positive week for credit has ended with a massive jump-start, as the US Federal Reserve unveiled a $2.3 trillion relief package targeting small businesses and municipalities but with additional support for bigger companies, including 'fallen angel' household names

Good Thursday for credit, as Europe gains gusto from US resurrection
The Easter revival has come early for credit, with three straight days of global improvement and iTraxx Crossover today rallying again into the long weekend at its tightest print for a month

Coronavirus volatility drives CDS clearing surge at LCH
CDS volume at LCH, the central clearing house of the London Stock Exchange, blew previous records out of the water in this year's first quarter, underscoring how the asset class served as a leading signal in the onset of the coronavirus pandemic

Bardin Hill pulls in $300 million for first close of opportunistic credit fund
Bardin Hill has held a first close on an opportunistic credit fund at around $300 million, according to sources familiar with the matter

Axiom bets on 2002-style credit recovery with crossover fund launch
Axiom Alternative Investments is readying to launch a fund aimed at generating returns from the dislocation and revival of European and US credit as the coronavirus pandemic develops

Former JP Morgan credit prop trader relaunches credit hedge fund
Palm Lane Partners is relaunching – two years after the credit hedge fund manager looked to spin out of JP Morgan Asset Management

Europe/US credit gap extends as coronavirus curves part ways
The gap between European and US credit performance is widening as hopes rise in Europe the spread of the coronavirus could be slowing even as its impact extends in the US

Credit event hits new CDX HY as Crossover name's default risk surges
Whiting Petroleum has triggered a bankruptcy credit event, the Americas Determinations Committee has ruled, making it the first constituent default in newly on-the-run series 34 of the CDX HY index

Short-dated CSOs touted as jump-to-default risk hits curves
The coronavirus outbreak has all but vanquished hopes of any regular CSO business getting done, but sources say bespoke portfolios of short-dated CDS could soon be in the offing as investors look to express a view on when the crisis will end.

Structured credit dragged very wide — but CLOs stand to gain
Senior tranches of securitisations widened 220% in less than a month as the coronavirus pandemic has meant an increase in systemic risk — a sharp turnaround from the past few months when idiosyncratic risks were being cited as the main concern for structured credit investors.

US/Europe CDS relative value in play as index gaps widen
A growing differential is opening this week between European and US credit derivative indices, with stark warnings yesterday on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic prompting a big sell-off in financial markets

‘Hoard credit’ says PM as markets swing
As Creditflux went to press, the covid-19 death toll in Italy surged by 700 after two days of slowing, and the US congress agreed a $2 trillion stimulus package.