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

Global CLO league tables - November 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - November 2020 YTD

Europe leads corporate credit rally, but US outperforms in CLOs
iTraxx Crossover has been the CDS market's outperformer this week, tightening over 30 basis points, or 11.4%, to trade at 235bp today. But in the CLO market, US deals have come out on top thanks to a BlackRock CLO that priced its double Bs at some of the tightest levels this year

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

Compression plays out as HY and European CLO double Bs outperform
Investment grade and high yield credit spreads have tightened in sync with each other this week, but CDS and CLOs alike underline that the big theme over the past month has been compression between investment grade and high yield

CLO pipeline: LCM switches arranger to complete deal and join issuance surge
Over $3.5 billion of global CLO issuance priced last week and managers in all three CLO markets are taking advantage of tightening spreads across the capital structure after three major covid-19 vaccine breakthroughs and increased confidence since the US presidential election

Global CLO b-wic round-up: Junior tranches rally amid heavy supply, including portfolio liquidation
The US CLO secondary market rally is showing no signs of slowing down after a week of over $1 billion worth of bonds was listed and well absorbed, according to market sources. The European market also had a roust week with over €300 million of paper up for grabs, although the market stayed generally flat with some tightening in double and single Bs

OC health check: 41 CLOs heal their breaches
147 CLOs breached an over-collateralisation test in October, down from 183 in September. 41 CLOs that breached an OC test in September passed all OC tests in October, most of which had October payment dates

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

CLO pipeline: New issuance pause ends as managers look to gain from rallying spreads
It is two and a half weeks since the last US CLO new issue priced, but that is set to change and Bridgepoint’s debut European transaction on Friday brought an end to Europe’s own two-and-a-half-week primary break

Global CLO b-wic round-up: Secondary markets rally despite ‘worst liquidity seen all year’
An adjournment in the US for Veterans Day last week still left plenty of time for the CLO secondary market to rally, thanks to Pfizer's covid-19 vaccine breakthrough and a firmer indication of the US presidential election results

US and European CLO PMs earn promotion as Carlyle's Pace takes on new role
Carlyle Group’s global head of liquid credit has decided to take on a new role as vice chair of global credit, according to an internal memo seen by Creditflux, which will involve investing capital across the Carlyle platform

Manager shrinks in distressed and explores US direct lending sale: Debtwire
A global asset manager has a fresh set of priorities for its global credit platform with distressed debt and US direct lending moving down the pecking order

Beneath the triple C: cinemas get clipped but default picture improves
14 corporate debt issuers were downgraded to triple C or below in October by Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s – hurting $3.15 billion of US CLO loans, €761.73 million of European CLO portfolios and $37.95 million of middle market CLOs loans, according to CLO-i. Cinema chains were among those to suffer last month

Global CLO league tables - October 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - October 2020 YTD

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

Skews flip in Europe after IG credit indices lead rally
Credit spreads are budging wider this morning after a relentless rally this week which culminated in iTraxx Main tightening 4.2bp (7.2%) and iTraxx Crossover tightening 18.8bp (5.54%) at the close yesterday

I foresee various spooky spectacles hitting our screens - and your long portfolios
Welshcake is settling in for a horror movie marathon. But in the previews he sees monsters lurking behind tight credit spreads

Chin up – it’s been a pretty good effort
CLO managers did well to survive the covid-19 crash in loan valuations — but they failed to fully capitalise on the ensuing volatility, say participants in the Creditflux CLO Census 2020

Elements work against CLO managers in Q3
CLO equity distributions fell in Q3 largely due to factors, such as Libor mismatches, that CLO managers can’t control. But these headwinds could turn in favour of managers in the near future

Wriedt’s boutique vehicle eyes rent-to-own strategy
Long-time CLO specialist Oliver Wriedt is pursuing opportunities across a range of sectors as part of his new business, which seeks to make minority equity investments in boutique asset managers

B-wic appearances boost CLO equity valuations
CLO investors who use third party valuations say that CLO equity may be undervalued

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