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

IG names hit hardest as cocktail of woes routs market
Investor nervousness is evident at the start of the week with a big widening of spreads on Monday as lack of accord on a new US stimulus package added to concern about rising coronavirus case numbers and jitters in the oil market

Rally puts credit back on even footing but single name volatility persists
A sizeable rally today is putting credit indices back on a flattish footing with where they began the week, adding to the sense the market is finely poised with only six trading days to go before the US presidential election

New credit hedge fund manager hires from Man GLG in London
A start-up credit fund manager has added to its ranks by hiring a portfolio manager

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

High yield shorts and basis trades abound as borrowers race to issue
Discrepancies between high yield bonds and CDS could be a rich mine of activity in the coming months, say investors, with volatility set to rise while defaults and late cycle signals avail trading opportunities

Selecta splashes CLOs with bankruptcy credit event
Selecta Group has triggered a bankruptcy credit event, the Emea Determinations Committee has ruled

Tranche traders smell the coffee as Crossover default percolates
Selecta Group looks set to become the third European credit event in as many months to hit series 33 of the iTraxx Crossover index and tranches based on series 32

IG tranches look 'boring' after distressed names ejected at roll
September’s index rolls brought tranche traders some of the starkest portfolio changes in recent years, with fallen angels and defaults shifting correlation dynamics. This creates relative value openings, but investors will take longer to move into new series as they require extra analysis, say dealers.

The tranche market shines, whatever your view on credit
Index tranche volumes have reached record levels this year and CSOs have withstood the covid crisis. Panellists at the Credit Dimensions webinar outlined a range of trades in a thriving market

Credit spreads wind back to February to bring shorts into focus
The credit rally since April has opened up an opportunity to go short credit, say fund managers, with spreads back to where they were in late February

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

Europe/US high yield gap re-opens with roll, but raises fair value questions
The semi-annual roll of US high yield index CDX HY has once again put daylight between it and European counterpart iTraxx Europe. But the new series has come in tighter than some market participants had anticipated

European high yield converges on US as credit pushes wider
A worrisome week is ending with spreads pushing to new local wides and underperformance of European high yield versus US credit

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

Spreads gap wider as slowdown fears sink in
Concern over the gathering coronavirus second wave, economic slowdown and the need for further central bank interventions has pushed credit spreads sharply wider, with yesterday’s US late session downturn spilling over to Asia and Europe

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 

Curves steepen as roll shifts risk from the front end
CDS index curves have steepened with the September roll, with the reformulation of iTraxx and European portfolios having a noticeable impact on the front end of the curve

Index roll brings sea change for US/Europe relative value
The roll of CDS indices to new series has shifted relative value measures between Europe and the US, with CDX indices trading in a tighter context to their new iTraxx counterparts

Fallen angels and financials feel heat as CDS indices roll
CDS indices are rolling into new contracts today, with outgoing series of iTraxx Europe and Crossover widening sharply from the market’s open on technical as well as fundamental factors

Credit retreats from tights as central banks offer reality check
European credit is following Asia wider today, picking up from where the US left off yesterday as the Federal Reserve vowed to keep overnight rates near zero for the coming years