Ares holds €6.97 billion first close on European direct lending fund
Ares Management Group has collected $12 billion in gross credit commitments over the third quarter of the year, according to the firm’s earnings presentation, including $8.2 billion for the first closing of its fifth European direct lending fund

CLO Census results: Citi comes out top but several banks make big leaps
Citi has been voted top in five out of the eight primary CLO categories as part of the 2020 Creditflux CLO Census, but BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Natixis are among the banks that have made huge strides compared to last year

OC health check: CLOs wake up when September ends
September showed a slight but clear improvement in CLOs’ over-collateralisation test results as 182 CLOs breached an OC test during the reporting period, compared to 198 in August.

CLO pipeline: fixed income giants plan debut 2.0s with Morgan Stanley
Two large fixed income managers are pre-marketing debut 2.0 CLOs

Credit Rendezvous: sometimes you have to dive deep to find value
Some parts of the credit market are fraught with danger, but that does not mean portfolio managers are avoiding them entirely, according to the Credit Rendezvous, Creditflux's 10-page quarterly report eaturing comments from 15 credit experts

[update] Beneath the triple C: theme parks take portfolios on downward ride
Seven corporate debt issuers were downgraded to triple C or below in September by Moody’s or Standard and Poor’s – hurting $2.16 billion of US CLO loans and €1.16 billion of European CLO portfolio. The pace of CLO loan downgrades to triple C has slowed steadily since the peak in April

CLO pipeline: three behemoths prepare for quick-turnaround new issues
CLO managers have printed at a frenetic pace since the start of the quarter with $3.36 billion of issuance across all CLO markets and pricing types

European CLO leverage battered

Fund performance: A third of funds reach positive territory in 2020
August has been another successful month for the CLO category as seven of the top 10 funds invest primarily in CLOs

Former GoldenTree high-flyers launch structured credit firm in Los Angeles
A former GoldenTree senior portfolio manager and business development specialist have launched an asset manager that will invest across an array of structured credit, including CLOs, synthetics and private transactions

Global CLO round-up: fresh start for five year deals as market reopens
The CLO market is still producing deals at a good pace, with $2.6 billion of global issuance last week. Four new issue deals priced in the US with Intermediate Capital Group and NYL Investors pricing their first transactions of the year while CVC Credit Partners made it two and Barings three in 2020

US and European CLO portfolio managers set to leave Onex
A pair of experienced CLO portfolio managers are leaving Onex at the end of the year. Sources say Onex remains committed to the CLO business, having issued three deals globally since May

CLO pipeline: primary tightening opens door for CLO managers to print new issues
The CLO primary market is hitting a fast pace as it enters the last quarter of 2020. Last week brought a surge of new issuance as 11 US, two European and one mid market CLO manager priced their latest transactions

Barings and PGIM win loan and structured credit mandates as pension puts £2.7bn in credit
The firms will manage global syndicated loans, securitised credit, emerging market debt and global high yield credit for Border to Coast Pension Partnership's £2.7 billion ($3.43 billion) multi-asset credit fund 

OC health check: August reports slow torrent of fresh breaches to a trickle
198 CLOs reported an over-collateralisation (OC) breach in August, only three of which were completely new breaches. This is a slowdown from July, when 230 deals suffered some kind of OC breach, according to the latest reports from CLO-i  

Global CLO b-wic round-up: CLO lower mezz tightens while equity investors strive for duration
A large supply of CLO paper flooded the secondary market last week as $1.5 billion of US CLO bonds and €370 million of European CLOs were listed, according to CLO-i

Global CLO b-wic round-up: dealers get involved amid rally, but dispersion persists
The CLO secondary markets returned to form last week with $716.2 million of US CLO bonds and a further €306.5 million of European CLO paper listed. Although for both markets over half of the total volume listed came from Thursday’s scheduled b-wics

Blackstone reveals CLO originator NAV was understated for four months
Blackstone says the net asset value of class A units in its privately-offered CLO originator were understated between 31 March and 30 June

CLO pipeline: managers large, small and new ready to price in post-Labour Day surge
US managers are preparing a wave of new issue CLOs in the coming days, as the usual post-Labour Day pricing surge comes to fruition even in this most unusual of years

It’s been a while — how’s tricks?

Global CLO league tables - August 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - August 2020 YTD

Alcentra appoints DeSimone as CEO
Alcentra has appointed Johnathan DeSimone as chief executive officer following David Forbes-Nixon’s decision to step down and take an investment role at the firm

Ucits at a glance: Five funds lift YTD returns above 5%
Five funds have managed to pull their year to date figures above 5%; Loomis Sayles (7.50%), Algebris (5.82%), Pictet (5.53%), Amundi (5.36%) and Advent (5.11%)

Fund performance: Almost a third of credit funds reach positive YTD returns
July has been a successful month for many credit funds, despite the recovery peaking in May and June

CLOs at a glance: CLO managers are quite partial to a refi
There was a wave of CLO partial refinancing in August as equity investors capitalised on lower interest rates to cut the coupon on fixed rate tranches