Points up front: CLO awards banter
The Creditflux Manager Awards have a history of springing surprises. This year we had journalist and TV presenter Gavin Esler host the awards dinner and regale the audience with a Dolly Parton gag (the less said about that, the better).

Points up front: It’s getting hot in here
The role that journalists play in reporting on the CLO industry has been in the spotlight this year, with the mainstream press guilty of resorting to hyperbolic statements and fear-mongering. So it was a surprise to learn that these views were being given a public platform at IMN’s CLO conference last month on a panel titled Addressing the Headlines. 

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.

The resolution of narrowly tailored credit events is a leap forward for the CDS market
Isda is replacing the mechanistic determination of a failure-to-pay credit event with a more subjective rule

Past Returns: Repacking in land of the rising sun
Five years ago in Creditflux, we reported that Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ was embarking on a strategy of buying repackaged CLO triple A notes denominated in Japanese yen

Points Up Front: What’s a welshcake?
Our new guest columnist, Welshcake, has developed quite the following since debuting two months ago, with potshots at mainstream media coverage of the credit derivatives market, as well as taking loan market participants to task for their transfer fees

Points Up Front: The best opportunities are way, way over there
Competition was a big theme at last month’s Creditflux European Direct Lending conference. The market has evolved to the point where new entrants are on the fundraising trail, which could lead to a compression in any illiquidity premium prevalent in direct lending loans

Bubble-watchers cite the popularity of leveraged lending as evidence against it
Growth in direct lending has been strong — but the sector is tiny compared to equities or bonds 

Just because there have always been loan fees doesn’t mean they are the right way of doing things
Scrapping loan transfer costs of up to €3,500 per transaction is a bridge Europe should cross for the sake of liquidity

You can’t time everything 100% correctly, but being too early can be a mistake
ArrowMark's Kaelyn Abrell takes our credit quiz

They said it: "I enjoy problem-solving and puzzles"
CQS founder Sir Michael Hintze on his role as senior investment officer at the London-based credit fund manager

I liked it when banks could hold risk and actually had inventory to shift
Louis Gargour, CIO of LNG Capital, takes our credit quiz

We are yet to find a mass-media article that devotes attention to the potential merits of CLOs
Far too many recent mass-media articles critical of the CLO market are heavy on the hyperbole and light on the facts, writes our columnist and Eagle Point founder Thomas Majewski

Points up front: “I always think of myself as Bruce Lee when I’m investing in CLO equity”
An analytical mind, a strong network of industry contacts and an eye for value are vital for a competent CLO equity investor. But don’t forget the one-inch punch

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

Past returns: Citi kickstarts CSO market
Five years ago in Creditflux, we reported on the revival of the synthetic CDO market, with Citi leading the push

They said it: ebit-don't or ebitdaaa
Two direct lenders take turns complaining about ebitda adjustments

Points up front: Creditflux makes significant SRT call
They were once referred to as regulatory capital relief trades (or reg-cap trades), but now no one can agree on what to call them

The perception of liquidity is often not the same as the reality
Investec Asset Management's Jeff Boswell takes our credit quiz and discusses liquidity in Europe, the former "darling of the European debt market" Vivarte and the Matrix

Past returns: secret CLO market
Five years ago in Creditflux, we reported on the emergence of an inter-dealer market for CLOs

Points up front: super senior CSO investors wanted
As part of a vibrant opening panel at Creditflux’s Credit Dimensions event in New York last month, we came tantalisingly close to issuing a managed CSO in front of a live audience (if you ignore formalities such as warehousing risk and sourcing single name CDS)

They said it: "If the loan has a covenant, there’s probably something wrong with it"
Fully covenanted loans are a rarity, which would bring one to think that these are prized possesions. A US loan manager disagrees

Past returns: Atlantic crossing
Five years ago in Creditflux we reported on Axa Investment Managers planning its debut US CLO with a view to becoming a global CLO manager. Today, US managers are prioritising the build-out of European CLO platforms

Points up front: BlueGreen OneTreeHill United - the CLO team
Inspired by Serhan Seçmen’s keynote address at Creditflux’s CLO Symposium in May, we’ve come up with a World XI of CLO managers