Fund performance: CLOs look to continue recovery with end of the year in sight
CLO funds claim the majority of positions in our top 10

Signs of new dawn as tranche volumes smash past $250bn
Last year, people formed fresh habits as they adapted to the coronavirus pandemic. Similarly, in credit, a breakthrough year for the CDS tranche market is leading participants to believe that elevated tranche volumes are here to stay

Zombies demand brain work from tranche traders
Outperformance of junior tranches and underperformance of senior was the big theme in CDS index tranches going into December. But the picture began to change as Creditflux went to press

LP round up: pensions plan private credit pacing as strategic credit takes on "midfield" role
US pensions have allocated $1.4 billion across 22 credit funds including those managed by Angelo Gordon, Ares and GoldenTree, according to recent board documents seen by Creditflux. Meanwhile a pension fund draws parallels between strategic credit and Jordan Henderson

BlueCrest settles SEC charges of favouring internal fund over client capital
BlueCrest Capital Management has agreed to pay $170 million to settle charges related to a fund that managed internal capital

400 holds $430 million final close on opportunistic structured credit fund
400 Asset Based Term Fund II will invest across structured credit including special situations, risk-transfers, and liquidity premium opportunities in the primary and secondary markets

Two managers beat 80 others for £660 million multi-asset credit mandate
The UK's Local Government Pension Scheme Central has selected two managers for its £660 million Multi-Asset Credit Fund

Credit fundraising: November marks turning point as fund launches spike
November was always set to be an important month as the world awaited the US election outcome and the results of covid-19 vaccine trials. This did nothing to slow down fund managers as 14 funds launched, up from only four funds launching in September and five in October

Certior targets smaller distressed funds as it launches fund of funds
Certior Special Opportunities Fund is targeting distressed debt, opportunistic strategies, special situations, non-performing loans and asset-backed securities 

BNP Paribas AM names CIOs for real estate and infra debt
BNP Paribas Asset Management has announced four Paris-based appointments within its private debt and real assets team, including chief investment officers for its real estate debt and infrastructure debt team

LP round up: Monroe and Angelo Gordon beat 25 for direct lending mandate, as private credit plans brew
US public pension funds have disclosed $1.2 billion in commitments to credit focused strategies

Schroders closes structured credit fund at $1.5 billion
Schroders has raised $1.5 billion for its latest structured credit fund, Focus II

LP round up: $2.8 billion flows to credit as Apollo concedes fundraising may slow
Florida Retirement System Trust Fund made the largest commitments allocating $1.6 billion. Apollo meanwhile acknowledged a potential slowdown in fundraising as investors await results on an independent review into CEO Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

The structured credit industry could promote its benefits more
Filippo Sampietro takes our credit quiz

Managers brave covid-hit sectors to drum up returns
Price dislocations among companies operating in industries affected by covid-19 mean they may offer some of the best opportunities for CLO managers and CSO investors — and sources say that neglecting these sectors could hurt performance

Credit rally slows but structured finance funds gain
Corporate credit spreads levelled off in September, which means that 63% of funds in the Creditflux database have just a single quarter left to make it to positive returns for the calendar year.  

Fund performance: Structured finance finds its footing with credit rally
For the first time this year we have seen a structured finance fund take the top spot, as Serone Key Opportunities Fund leads a multitude of other funds in this category in the top 10 of our monthly fund rankings

Ucits at a glance: European funds and CLOs head rankings
Ucits fund returns

Credit funds at a glance (November 2020)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Credit hedge funds (November 2020)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Equity tranche shorts gather for fallen angels
Investor views are starting to form around on-the-run iTraxx and CDX index tranches, following their rolls into new versions at the end of September and start of October

Insurance firm seeks CLO debt and ABS exposure
Investment consultant Callan is requesting proposals on behalf of an undisclosed insurance company for a CLO manager and ABS manager

Credit fundraising: Dubai manager gets in on the act as direct lending takes off
Shuaa launches credit fund in the Gulf as Ares, Contingency, HPS and Perceptive are among those to close billion-plus funds

Apollo appoints head of credit valuations from sell-side
Apollo has appointed a head of credit valuations, as its previous head of credit valuations has transitioned internally to cover private equity valuations

Squarepoint adds former bank credit trading head in London
Squarepoint Capital, a cross-asset fund manager that uses systematic and quantitative strategies, has hired a former global credit trading head at Societe Generale to lead fixed income, currencies and commodities alpha capture