AlbaCore adds distressed hire among raft of new arrivals
AlbaCore Capital Group has added four hires to its investment team in recent weeks, taking its total headcount to 46

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

It's all relative: senior CLO tranches tighten 18% in Europe as CDS indices sit out rally

Credit touches November levels as nerves fray on France and Fed
Fears of a third national lockdown in France and the risk of disappointment from Wednesday's US Federal Reserve meeting have pushed credit wider along with a sell off in stocks

Credit Rendezvous: heading for homes
Fund managers in structured credit, real assets and distressed are bullish on the prospects for residential housing in 2021. Elsewhere, niche royalty-based strategies are in favour and although a CLO repricing wave is expected, it may not be easy to execute resets. For more, read our 13-page quarterly report on credit. 

Europcar CDS auction shocks protection buyers with zero pay-out
Wednesay's auction to settle Europcar Mobility Group CDS has left protection buyers on the company with nothing to show for their investments and hedges, after dealers produced an unexpected 100% recovery on contracts due to a technical mismatch in bids and orders

Europcar sets course for high recovery in 2021's first credit event auction
An auction to settle CDS referencing Europcar Mobility Group has generated an initial market midpoint of 73.5 cents, implying the pay-out to protection buyers could be only 26.5 cents - much lower than five-year CDS contracts had implied

High yield has primary bonds more than Georgia on mind in third day of underperformance
European high yield credit is on a run of underperformance as the first signs of primary market bond issuance appear, with spreads widening for a third day straight against improvement in other asset classes

Fund performance: CLOs look to continue recovery with end of the year in sight
CLO funds claim the majority of positions in our top 10

It's all relative: Euro CLO mezz rallies to follow month-long IG/HY compression
European credit suffered this week with Brexit talks between the UK and the EU dragging on and both sides conceding that a trade deal is unlikely to be reached by Sunday’s deadline. But European CLO tranches have held up reasonably well with mezzanine spreads tightening by almost 13% in December

Credit sell off gathers pace ahead of Brexit crunch day
With both sides in the EU-UK negotiations conceding that trade talks are most likely to conclude on Sunday without an agreement, credit is again a big underperformer today as more longs cut and run while hedging picks up

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

ECB stimulus hopes bolster high yield outperformance
Spread compression has picked up again, with European high yield taking the lead as expectations mount for another round of European Central Bank stimulus at its meeting next week

Europcar posed as failure to pay credit event
Europcar Mobility Group has been proposed to the Emea Determinations Committee as a failure to pay credit event, following the French vehicle hire firm's announcement of a financial restructuring

Spread compression resumes with US passing key milestones
Credit markets have resumed their crunch tighter today, with an absence of any obviously negative brakes to offset strengthening Asian industrial numbers and applications by vaccine makers for emergency approval in the US and Europe

Bulls give up some gains as IG banks and energy lead market wider
In a cautious opening to the week, credit spreads are edging wider against a backdrop of faltering oil prices but marginally strengthened stocks

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

Europe keeps to the grind with wide-end driving improvement
Credit exhibits a firm tone as the week draws to a close, with index spreads grinding back towards their tights despite a mixed picture for oil prices and much of the US market away after the thanksgiving holiday

Investment grade rallies hard on hopes of end to US deadlock
In a change from the recent trend investment grade credit is the front mover today, playing catch up on high yield as the market-wide rally gathers pace

IG and crossover indices converge while European CLO double Bs rally
iTraxx Crossover is again outperforming Main today with the investment grade index widening 0.11bp to 52.56bp while the crossover index is 2.42bp tighter to 296.99bp. Meanwhile bank research signals that junior CLO tranches could benefit as investors look at covid industries through a different lense 

Primary pumped as Trump gazumped and vaccine hopes jump
A 'yuge' rally is underway in credit markets today, with optimism over Joe Biden's apparent victory in the US presidential election turning to elation following a big covid-19 vaccine breakthrough

Equity tranche shorts gather for fallen angels
Investor views are starting to form around on-the-run iTraxx and CDX index tranches, following their rolls into new versions at the end of September and start of October

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

IG names hit hardest as cocktail of woes routs market
Investor nervousness is evident at the start of the week with a big widening of spreads on Monday as lack of accord on a new US stimulus package added to concern about rising coronavirus case numbers and jitters in the oil market