Everyone’s ramping

Points up front: CLO award-winners love bowing out at the top
Reaching the summit of their profession gives CLO officials the compulsion to move on to pastures new, as evidenced by the Creditflux Manager Awards

Points up front: Risk retention gets less than 5% of airtime
In a sign of how buoyant the CLO market is, risk retention was hardly mentioned at Creditflux’s CLO Symposium. Milbank partner John Goldfinch gave a self-deprecating assessment... 

"Never have the choices for issuers been more varied, nor the market dynamics more complex"
Direct lending deal terms are becoming more attractive in Europe

"Purchasing IG CLO debt was a key driver of success for 1.0 CLOs"
Longer reinvestment periods, the ability to buy IG tranches and improved loan settlements would improve CLOs

"I’m passionate about broader representation within investment teams"
CIP's Leila Donnachy takes our credit quiz 

"There are concerns about volatile sectors in high yield, but IG may be vulnerable to macro changes"
High yield has heavier exposure to energy and travel credits, but IG has more rate duration

Points up front: Tasty vaccine giveaway
Asset manager Vanguard is welcoming employees back to the office by offering a $1,000 bonus to staff who are fully vaccinated by October

"It’s not unusual for investors to toggle between the US and Europe depending on pricing and terms"
The accents may be different, but US and European direct lending markets have a lot in common

"In some ways, CLOs resemble a quirky, cottage industry more than a trillion-dollar market"
CLO volumes outstanding have passed $1 trillion, but index omission and private placements are holding us back

Past returns: Doing DIY CLOs
Five years ago we reported that CLO managers were considering self-arranged CLOs

"Low inflation was in part responsible for fostering a transfer of returns from creditors to shareholders"
We are conditioned to fear inflation risk. But it brings plenty of positives

They said it: "A lot of value was lost due to CLO window dressing"
"A lot of value was lost due to CLO window dressing"

"Pain is on the way: spreads are too tight, while compression and carry are done. But what if it's not?"
Welshcake reminds us that mid-cycle portfolio management is a funny old game  

"In the afternoon I awoke from a pile of willow leaves to discover we had created a Welsh ether-based token"
A localised crypto-currency boom and bust cycle teaches Welshcake (again) that everything becomes correlated in a downturn  

Past returns: Having a whale of a time in tranches
In Creditflux 10 years ago we reported on JP Morgan’s “little known prop book” making waves in index tranches

They said it: "The board announces the discovery of a website purporting to represent Volta"
They said it 

"We should be mindful of the transfer of power to the C-suite that inheres in ESG"
As shareholder returns become one factor among many, the C-suite becomes more powerful  

"The lack of standardised ESG data creates opportunities for data-driven investors"
Investors can gain an edge by using technology to help parse ESG data

CLOs seem like Premier League members in the world of finance
The CLO industry is in a privileged position and can wield its power to do good  

We say it: Creditflux salutes women in credit
The credit industry is blessed with many strong women and for this issue of Creditflux we’re exclusively hearing their voices across our news, analysis and columns

Points up front: Navigating lockdown easel-y with brush in hand
The various periods of lockdown over the past 12 months have provided time for credit professionals to tap into their creative side, and Schroders’ head of securitised credit Michelle Russell-Dowe has taken full advantage

Points up front: Brahms for the brain
We often use this column to highlight charitable initiatives undertaken by members of the CLO community, but charity starts at home and we’d like to point you towards an initiative conducted by Richard Burrell, partner of our own Tanvi Gupta