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

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

Single name shorters get improved entry point after conviction test
Returning market optimism has taken credit spreads back to ultra-tight levels. But for bears, this posits a better entry level for short trades, and the recent blow-out may have given strong pointers where to target them

Värde closes $1.6 billion dislocation fund
Värde Dislocation Fund, has a flexible, global mandate to invest in mispriced, stressed and distressed credit, focusing on short- to medium-term credit opportunities

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

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

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

After long retracing, tight IG names offer blow-out potential
A shift wider of credit spreads was underway as Creditflux went to press, giving weight to several weeks of mounting investor concern about how far the market has retraced since the covid sell-off in March/April

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 rally rolls on as indices approach one-month tights
CDS indices are approaching their mid-October tights as reality seeps in of a divided US government and, consequently, little chance of dramatic corporate tax increases. Yesterday, iTraxx Main led the way, tightening 5.3%, followed by CDX NA HY and CDX IG (both 4.5%) and iTraxx Crossover (2.8%)

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

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

LP round up: EIF backs four debt funds while Carlyle wins $1 billion
Institutional investors have allocated just over $4 billion to 27 credit managers in October board meetings

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.