Sovereign wealth funds empower direct lenders
Sovereign wealth funds are turning toward the booming private credit market, with three massive partnerships formed this year

Credit Rendezvous: record fiscal stimulus provides pick-me-up
Credit markets had a mini bounce-back in the second quarter as central banks poured cash into the economy. But there is great uncertainty about the effects of a second wave of coronavirus. As part of our quarterly report on credit - the Credit Rendezvous - Creditflux spoke to experts across 12 segments of the credit market

A different kind of crisis
Panellists on Creditflux’s US CLO webinar were positive about the robustness of CLO structures and the role of cure contributions. But they warned about zombie defaults and gaming tests

CLO warehouses trigger draw stops as loan market tanks
CLO warehouses are being put on ice due to ‘draw stop’ triggers, which have come into play as loan prices plunge.

We’ve survived before, we can do so again

We’ve survived before, we can do so again
$7.8 billion of CLO collateral, split evenly between the US and Europe, is in the loans that have fallen fastest in the past month. But short term CLO pain will bring opportunities for building par

Repricing spike points to sharp spread compression

Licence and registration: loan spreads get speeding ticket as CLOs play catch-up
The sharp rally in corporate credit means that CLO spreads are going to have to rapidly follow suit with investors informing Creditflux that US CLO triple As should be pricing at 105-107 basis points to make deal economics work. 

CBAM plans expansion with new $60 million credit facility
CBAM has closed a $60 million credit facility to refinance a working capital facility to its parent company Eldridge Industries

CLOs wrestle back control of the European loan market
The share of European loans bought by CLOs is now larger than those acquired by loan managed accounts and hedge funds, according to a research paper by Barclays.

Lenders turn to quality over quantity

Investors go first in lien at loan queue

US hedge funds use leverage to buy European CLOs
Boca Raton-based hedge fund manager III Capital Management is leading the charge as US hedge funds employ leverage to buy European triple A-rated CLOs.

Prepayments pose reinvestment dilemma for CLO managers
CLO managers globally could be left sitting on piles of cash amid an uptick in loan prepayments. Standard & Poor’s reported that institutional US loan prepayments had hit $26 billion in July, and more recently some widely-held CLO names are set to return principal to lenders, with financial data provider Refinitiv US Holdings and Italian telecom operator Wind Tre taking this route.

Europe and US diverge on covenant lite structures
Direct lending is syphoning away traditional loan supply

Investors seek oasis as new issues dry up

Points up front: Benefits of being unethical
Investing ethically is increasingly becoming part of a credit manager’s mandate, with environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies all the rage.

PE hold periods have shrunk but fast acquisitions can lead to botched integrations
Buyout multiples are likely to stay high – but moving fast and specialising can help firms make money

Cayman Island hopping: EU laws provoke switch in CLO listings
The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX) is set to become the listing place of choice in 2019 for CLOs put together by US managers — at least, according to a bold prediction by law firm Harneys.

Being fully invested can have a greater impact on IRRs than avoiding 2% defaults annually
The IRR differential can be as much as 3.3% for a fully invested CLO versus one that maintains a 5% cash balance

Doing CLOs is hard work as recovery lags
There’s scrutiny on staffing, structures and, of course, ‘the challenging arb’. But Q4 volatility created opportunity, which led speakers at the Creditflux CLO Symposium to ask for more

High yield bonds regain lost ground

Loan trading round-up: CLO managers fall out of love with First Data
An analysis of loan trading among CLO managers in February shows that First Data is falling down the pecking order with managers selling $182 million of the company's loans