Fund performance

Morningstar eyes credit rating expansion as it announces DBRS acquisition
Morningstar today announced it has entered an agreement to acquire DBRS for $669 million, according to a statement from the firm

CLO pipeline: Black Diamond looks to brush itself off and jump back in ring after year out
Black Diamond Capital Management features twice in our CLO pipeline this week, as the firm is planning a return to both the European and the US CLO market.

CLOs are 11% of Nochu's assets as bank posts JPY 7.4 trillion investments
Norinchukin bought another JPY 600 billion ($4.77 billion) CLOs in the first quarter, taking its total investments in the asset class to JPY 7.4 trillion ($66.8 billion), according to the bank’s latest financial statements

Global b-wic round-up: Short-dated CLO paper hits the market
Last week brought over $800 million of b-wics listed in the US CLO secondary market for the first time this month, with around 10% being paper that had a reinvestment period that ended in 2019.

CSAM plans double CLO issuance next week with US and EU deals in the market
Credit Suisse Asset Management is preparing to issue two new issue CLOs next week, with one issuance on either side of the Atlantic

Ostrum appoints structured credit head as it looks to issue US CLOs
The market has found a plethora of CLO managers looking to expand in Europe, but Ostrum Asset Management has gone the other way by hiring an experienced US CLO portfolio manager

Citi names sales head with global structured credit remit
Citi has promoted Rajiv Amlani to global head of special products solution sales, in which he will be responsible for non-flow structured credit and securitised trading business

Global b-wic round-up: US CLO equity continues its surge
Last week marked the third straight week that the US CLO secondary market has seen total listings of under $600 million, but over a quarter of that was equity.

Spire wins Creditflux Manager of the Year award
Spire Partners was the big winner at Creditflux's Manager Awards last night as the London-based manager scooped the award for the manager of the year. On top of this, the firm picked up awards for Best European CLO Manager and Best European CLO for Aurium CLO II

Prospect's $500 million CLO fund merges with Stira Alcentra global credit fund
Prospect Capital Management’s $500 million closed-end CLO fund has officially merged with a global credit fund managed by Alcentra and Stira

Global CLO league tables at a glance - April 2019 YTD
Global CLO league tables at a glace - April 2019 YTD

Global CLO round-up: new managers put down roots
Birch Grove priced its debut CLO this week while relative newcomers PPM (in the US) and Voya Alternative Asset Management (Europe) grew their CLO AUM.

Managers slide down term curve
PGIM and Voya were among managers issuing short dated deals in the first quarter. These CLOs, along with a surge in b-wics, kept up the supply of short dated paper as refinancings fell away

Capital raised for risk retention keeps struggling CLOs afloat
In a bid to turn struggling warehouses into CLOs, managers are prepared to take losses on funds raised for risk retention in order to issue new deals.

Points up front: An unethical CLO? Can’t be right, can it?
On 1 April, our new writer Faro Ipoll posted a report on Fetid Brook Capital’s plans for a CLO backed by unethical loans — counter to the trend of environmental, social and governance-friendly CLOs.

CLOs at a glance
A round-up of CLO performance

CLO pipeline: refinancings to make a comeback
CLO refinancings look set to continue their recent surge in the US CLO market, with another five refinancings and two resets appearing in the pipeline.

Global b-wic round-up: secondary flows drop to $599 million in the US
Secondary CLO trading took a back-seat last week, with European market participants away Monday and the US focused on 10 primary market pricings 

Two CLO investors leave GSO in London
Two experienced CLO investors have parted ways with GSO Capital Partners in the last few weeks

16% of insurers plan CLO allocation increase, survey finds
Goldman Sachs Asset Management has released its annual insurance asset management survey

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

Global b-wic round-up: focus shifts to the wings of the capital structure
The secondary US CLO market looks to be rebounding after a slow end to the first quarter of 2019 with first-loss and first-pays drumming up attention

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