Exit requests for Apollo, Ares private debt funds top double digits
Both of the semi-liquid, perpetual nontraded BDCs chose to cap share repurchases at the originally offered 5% limit, forcing many investors to wait another quarter for a full exit

ICG hits USD 7.5bn fundraising mark for hybrid private debt fund
ICG Europe IX is now three-quarters of the way to its EUR 10bn target

Dealmaking optimism appears in European credit – CVC
The alternative asset manager increased its European credit exposure during the third quarter after seeing a spread pickup

Ares readies next flagship alternative credit, senior lending funds
The alternative credit manager also recorded its highest fundraising quarter, corralling USD 30bn from investors

Blackstone raises USD 1.6bn for new high-yield ABF strategy
The alternative asset management giant is targeting USD 4bn for its new high yield, private-asset-based finance fund

CVC raises USD 700m for CLO equity fund, plans new products
The European private credit manager also expects to hold a final close for its European Direct Lending Fund IV in late 3Q

Ares diversifies away from institutional, commingled private funds
During the second quarter, 55% of capital came from the institutional channel and just 30% of this was for its traditional funds

KKR grows ABF business to USD 75bn, expands origination
The alternative asset manager acquired a majority stake in a biopharma royalties business this week to add to its asset-backed finance business

Apollo goes on post-Liberation Day buying spree
The alternative asset manager took advantage of public market credit opportunities as liquidity dried up

French hedgers price in election six months ahead
The CDS market is well known to be more reactive than cash credit to changes of sentiment. However, a growing fixation among participants to price in macro and political risk ahead of time appears to have hit an extreme in the case of French presidential election hedging — more than six months before the country goes to the polls

Financial CDS move points to relative value boost
The credit derivatives market could take an important step towards greater versatility with the 21 September roll, as participants again consider whether to begin including financial names in the CDX IG investment grade index

BTIG hires strategist to cover US and European financials
Nandana Shenoy has joined BTIG in New York to work as a strategist covering US and European financials, according to an announcement by the brokerage

Apollo Global Management ends year with a bang
CLOs returned 8% while direct origination continues to be "rocket fuel", the company said

Credit traders expose themselves to Brexit bungle
Credit investors have set themselves up for disappointment, with UK related names leading another push tighter ahead of the culmination of talks between the UK and European Union aimed at reaching a last-gasp Brexit agreement

Regulation stifles SRTs, but banks and investors revel in quarter-four outperformance
Over the course of 2018 there was roughly €6.5 billion of issuance in the market for significant risk transfer (SRT) deals, sources say, with the last three months understood to be the busiest quarter on record

AT1s should be highly valued, not feared
Additional tier one (AT1) bonds stand out as a rich source of value this year, say portfolio managers, despite the shock headlines generated mid-February by Santander’s decision not to call a €1.5 billion note

Trups CDO spreads shift wide of late 2018 levels as EJF produces $314 million deal
Trups CDO spreads have widened since the end of last year – much like corporate credit spreads – after EJF Investments priced its sixth securitisation of financial company debt.

Former BlueMountain portfolio manager resurfaces at KKR
A credit specialist who left BlueMountain in 2017 has resurfaced at KKR Credit as a director in its New York office, Creditflux has learned

Banco Popular becomes first credit to trigger new-style CDS
Isda’s credit determinations committee ruled on Friday that Spain’s Banco Popular has triggered a “government intervention” credit event on its credit default swaps

French financial trades boost European credit hedge funds
Credit hedge funds that play in European financials have posted big gains on French bank credit ahead of this month’s presidential elections.

Societe Generale emerging markets and financials trader exits bank
Veteran credit trader leaves French bank in London

Veteran financials trader leaves Mizuho in London
Mizuho loses seasoned financials credit trader from London offices after strong growth in recent years

Credit trader heading to BNP Paribas after just months with rival
Trader set to return to a dealer he had worked at for nine years, after the briefest of stints at a rival European bank