400 holds $430 million final close on opportunistic structured credit fund
400 Asset Based Term Fund II will invest across structured credit including special situations, risk-transfers, and liquidity premium opportunities in the primary and secondary markets

Global CLO league tables - November 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - November 2020 YTD

Europe leads corporate credit rally, but US outperforms in CLOs
iTraxx Crossover has been the CDS market's outperformer this week, tightening over 30 basis points, or 11.4%, to trade at 235bp today. But in the CLO market, US deals have come out on top thanks to a BlackRock CLO that priced its double Bs at some of the tightest levels this year

Credit fundraising: November marks turning point as fund launches spike
November was always set to be an important month as the world awaited the US election outcome and the results of covid-19 vaccine trials. This did nothing to slow down fund managers as 14 funds launched, up from only four funds launching in September and five in October

Compression plays out as HY and European CLO double Bs outperform
Investment grade and high yield credit spreads have tightened in sync with each other this week, but CDS and CLOs alike underline that the big theme over the past month has been compression between investment grade and high yield

CLO pipeline: LCM switches arranger to complete deal and join issuance surge
Over $3.5 billion of global CLO issuance priced last week and managers in all three CLO markets are taking advantage of tightening spreads across the capital structure after three major covid-19 vaccine breakthroughs and increased confidence since the US presidential election

Global CLO b-wic round-up: Junior tranches rally amid heavy supply, including portfolio liquidation
The US CLO secondary market rally is showing no signs of slowing down after a week of over $1 billion worth of bonds was listed and well absorbed, according to market sources. The European market also had a roust week with over €300 million of paper up for grabs, although the market stayed generally flat with some tightening in double and single Bs

OC health check: 41 CLOs heal their breaches
147 CLOs breached an over-collateralisation test in October, down from 183 in September. 41 CLOs that breached an OC test in September passed all OC tests in October, most of which had October payment dates

LP round up: Monroe and Angelo Gordon beat 25 for direct lending mandate, as private credit plans brew
US public pension funds have disclosed $1.2 billion in commitments to credit focused strategies

CLO pipeline: New issuance pause ends as managers look to gain from rallying spreads
It is two and a half weeks since the last US CLO new issue priced, but that is set to change and Bridgepoint’s debut European transaction on Friday brought an end to Europe’s own two-and-a-half-week primary break

Global CLO b-wic round-up: Secondary markets rally despite ‘worst liquidity seen all year’
An adjournment in the US for Veterans Day last week still left plenty of time for the CLO secondary market to rally, thanks to Pfizer's covid-19 vaccine breakthrough and a firmer indication of the US presidential election results

US and European CLO PMs earn promotion as Carlyle's Pace takes on new role
Carlyle Group’s global head of liquid credit has decided to take on a new role as vice chair of global credit, according to an internal memo seen by Creditflux, which will involve investing capital across the Carlyle platform

Beneath the triple C: cinemas get clipped but default picture improves
14 corporate debt issuers were downgraded to triple C or below in October by Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s – hurting $3.15 billion of US CLO loans, €761.73 million of European CLO portfolios and $37.95 million of middle market CLOs loans, according to CLO-i. Cinema chains were among those to suffer last month

Global CLO league tables - October 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - October 2020 YTD

LP round up: $2.8 billion flows to credit as Apollo concedes fundraising may slow
Florida Retirement System Trust Fund made the largest commitments allocating $1.6 billion. Apollo meanwhile acknowledged a potential slowdown in fundraising as investors await results on an independent review into CEO Leon Black's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

Elements work against CLO managers in Q3
CLO equity distributions fell in Q3 largely due to factors, such as Libor mismatches, that CLO managers can’t control. But these headwinds could turn in favour of managers in the near future

Credit fundraising: Dubai manager gets in on the act as direct lending takes off
Shuaa launches credit fund in the Gulf as Ares, Contingency, HPS and Perceptive are among those to close billion-plus funds

Apollo appoints head of credit valuations from sell-side
Apollo has appointed a head of credit valuations, as its previous head of credit valuations has transitioned internally to cover private equity valuations

Global b-wic round-up: Europe drifts wider
The CLO secondary market had a robust week with $860 million of US CLO paper and €315 million worth of European CLO bonds listed. But spreads widened off the back of concerns over lockdowns across the globe, the increased risk of downgrades and tomorrow’s US presidential election

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