It's all relative: CDX HY touches record tights but junior US CLO tranches leak wider
Credit spreads are marching tighter, but someone forgot to tell the CLO market. European and US CDS spreads have moved in step with each other for the most part with investment grade and high yield tightening 4-6% in the last week, whereas CLOs have been losing ground

Tech firm tempts credit investors with supply chain finance offer
Novicap, a fintech company focused on invoice financing, is looking to debt capital market participants — such as credit and structured credit funds, asset managers, pension companies and insurers — as it seeks to raise third-party funding for its credit platform

Elfa adds to ESG fact sheet range in standardisation drive
The European Leveraged Finance Association (Elfa) will shortly publish sector-specific fact sheets for the transport and healthcare industries, sources say, bringing its total of ESG fact sheets to 12

Fund performance: CLO funds outperform as two hit over 100% 12-months return
CLO funds swatted away the competition in April on their way to dominating our top 10 credit hedge fund return table after an upbeat month

Lighten up, these are due an upgrade
CLO triple C buckets were overflowing last year, but the average exposure is now 7.3%. That is still close to trigger levels, but CLO managers are relaxed, as further loan upgrades are on the horizon

Woah, we’re halfway there
Judging by the 2020 vintage, European CLO overlap is 50%. But varied approaches to holding bonds and the many loans managers turn down mean there are ways for issuers to outperform

"Why can’t loans and CLOs simply move to three-month treasury bills as our reference rate?"
Sofr may be touted as Libor’s natural replacement, but the best known rate in the world is also an option

Fund performance: Lightning strikes twice as range of credit funds deliver
What seemed like a chance occurrence in February has struck again in March, as seven categories make our top 10 best performing hedge funds

Credit fundraising: three massive European direct lending funds notch up €17.6 bn
Fundraising figures continued upwards in April as just over $24 billion was raised for credit funds, alongside $3.2 worth of allocations to credit managers. Nine funds held final closes including the largest European direct lending fund raised to date

Fitch lowers US loan default rates for 2021 and 2022
The rating agency has $200.9 billion of ‘market concern loans’ on its radar, saying these have declined in volume for the 12^th month straight but are still up 16% from pre-pandemic.

Beneath the triple C: CLOs benefit as upgrades make for lighter triple C buckets
For the first time since the sell off in March last year, downgrades to triple C have come to a near-standstill

Loan pipeline builds to fuel US CLO production into Q2
US CLO new issuance, already on a high, is set to be spurred on by a healthy loan pipeline over the second quarter of 2021

Ucits at a glance: Advent and Algebris lead the pack again
Ucits funds saw the brighter side of February, as 80% of funds achieved a positive return

Natixis IM hires CEO with incumbent Raby set to depart
Natixis Investment Managers has hired Generali's chief investment officer to lead the firm from 12 April

Sofr fix nears launch as CLOs face term rate void
Three months into 2021, grounds for optimism have grown little that a term rate will be found before the end of the year to replace Libor in loans, CLOs, CDS and other contracts. But hopes are rising that solutions such as credit spread adjustments could help mitigate performance uncertainty

Four managers win lucrative $700 million credit mandate
A $39 billion pension has selected four managers for an opportunistic credit mandate and identified a further four ‘bench’ managers 

Vontobel names fixed income trading head amid four senior hires
Vontobel Asset Management has appointed four senior hires to its team including a newly created role of head of fixed income trading

Moving fast pays off for hedge funds
2020 was an up and down year in credit, and credit hedge fund managers had to move quickly to capture opportunities from the dislocations that inevitably opened up

Fund performance: CLO funds pick up where they left off
New year, same funds leading the way with CLO strategies the top performers in January

Ucits at a glance: CIFC nears positive 12-month returns
Ucits funds have started 2021 on a quiet note as 72% of funds achieved a positive return

Credit fundraising: ESG centre stage as capital pours into new strategies
Sustainability was the watchword for fundraising in February, amid a flurry of fund launches as well as first closes for impact funds and sustainable bond funds

Apollo holds $2.34 billion final close on latest credit dislocation fund
Apollo Global Management has held a $2.34 billion final close on its latest flagship dislocated credit fund, Apollo Accord Fund IV

Barings sells €377m portfolio via b-wic to wind down European CLO
Barings was the seller of a mammoth €377 million loan b-wic on Thursday (12 February), Debtwire has reported

It's all relative: CLOs are lagging no more, as Carlyle deal drags market tighter
“CLOs are lagging” has been a much repeated refrain over the last nine months. But Carlyle Group has this week produced a US CLO that has dragged spreads to their tightest point in three years so that, rather than comparing CLOs to pre-covid levels, they should be assessed against early 2018

Search firm highlights lack of diversity across Euro credit
A report on diversity within the corporate credit industry has shed light on the imbalances that persist