The Last Tranche: awards season is upon us [podcast]
A look at 2018 award offerings and finalist, plus some insight on direct lending and b-wics

Oak Hill reshuffles leadership in Europe
Oak Hill Advisors has appointed three long-serving members of its investment and business development teams to lead the European office

Loan trading round-up: CLO managers fall out of love with First Data
An analysis of loan trading among CLO managers in February shows that First Data is falling down the pecking order with managers selling $182 million of the company's loans

Moving on from the late 2018 hangover
It might be too early to call a full recovery, but it’s fair to say that the US loan market is back on track with $48 billion of institutional issuance in 2019 — 88% of which is made up of new issues

Leveraged loans pose credit risk but not systemic risk, conference told
Regulators and the press need to understand the difference between credit risk and systemic risk, claimed panelists at the IMN European CLOs and Leveraged Loans conference

Brookfield strikes deal to buy 62% stake in Oaktree
Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to buy a 62% stake in Oaktree Capital Management in a move which will lead to the creation of one of the largest asset managers in the business.

Tail wags dog as European CLOs' 108bp benchmark drags loans
European CLOs usually price on the back of where underlying loans are printing, but this year the reverse looks to be true

CLOs are not like CDOs, says Barclays, but warns of loan quality impact
CLOs are far removed from the kinds of structured products that contributed to the 2008/09 global financial crisis, Barclays has argued in a wide-ranging research piece this week

It’s going to be a credit picker’s market
Our panel of experts believe that the credit market will be volatile this year, but there will be opportunities in European credit and additional tier one bonds, trups CDOs and unitranches

Cairn Capital hires portfolio manager for CLO investments
Cairn Capital has hired a portfolio manager with sell-side and ratings agency experience to be responsible for CLO tranche investments

JP Morgan makes big hire to its global credit trading desk
An experienced banker who has covered CLOs, CSOs, loan TRS and credit derivatives, has joined JP Morgan after leaving BNP Paribas 

European CLO volumes to drop in 2019, but mezz could benefit, says BNP Paribas
Demand for European leveraged loans will be lower in 2019 due to lower CLO issuance, predicts BNP Paribas

Deutsche Bank refinances CLO backed with trade finance assets
Deutsche Bank has brought a $3.5 billion CLO backed by trade finance that includes a first-loss piece issued at par

KKR promotes three European credit specialists to managing directors
KKR has promoted several members of its team to managing directors - including a former US CLO portfolio manager

Blackstone builds on multi-asset approach with fifth fund
The new vehicle will invest directly into Blackstone deals across its alternatives platform

Market favours retrospective over forward-looking approach to Ibor benchmark fallbacks, says Isda
New benchmark fallbacks for derivatives contracts that reference interbank offered rates are likely to be based on the “compounded setting in arrears rate” and the “historical mean/median approach to the spread adjustment”, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association has said

24 CLO managers hold J Crew loan as it drops 4.62%
A total of 109 CLOs hold $219.4 million exposure to J Crew, whose Term Loan B traded down 4.62% from yesterday 

Ex-Citi CDO trading chief joins Jefferies as head of European fixed income
Jefferies has appointed a former Citi European credit and pre-crisis CDO trading head to lead its European fixed income business

European loan issuance set to decline in 2019, says Moody's
The outlook for European leveraged loan issuance remains strong for next year, according to report by Moody’s, although levels will depend on M&A activity

Selling at the time of the default or downgrade can often be the worst value decision for the CLO
CLOs don’t have to be forced sellers during distress cycles: skilled CLO managers and well-structured indentures can give optimal recoveries, says our columnist Thomas Majewski

Ares ups its target for US senior direct lending growth to $4.7 billion
Following $5 billion of inflows into global direct lending in the third quarter, Ares has upped the target for its US direct lending strategy 

LSTA asks for return of CLO bond buckets as part of Volcker reform
The Loan Syndication and Trading Association is advocating the return of high yield bond baskets within US CLO portfolios in what could be another sign of the shackles being loosened on CLO regulation in the US

Serone expands structured credit team as former GoldenTree official joins
London-based Serone Capital Management has added to its team with the hire of a structured products specialist

Pension fund hires portfolio manager to oversee loan and CLO investments
PensionDanmark has hired a senior portfolio manager to oversee its credit investments