CLO new issues shut down as market digests fiscal stimulus measures
The CLO and loan pipelines have dried up as managers and investors shift their focus to trading, according to market sources

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

Volatility wave brings index-linked CLO funds into play
Defensive positioning from loan managers has led to bifurcation in that market, but CLO fund managers are taking an attack-minded approach with ‘index-linked funds’.

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.

Marathon issues CLO with limitation on B3 loans
Marathon Asset Management’s new $405 million US CLO has a 25% cap on loans rated B3 and below, says a source close to the deal

DFG seeks secondary loans for new series of Pulsar CLOs
DFG Investment Advisers is launching a new line of CLOs with collateral sourced entirely in the secondary market

US loan trading: CLOs treated to DaVita as Refinitiv outflows escalate
US CLO managers were treated to a $2.75 billion term loan B by kidney dialysis services provider DaVita, which became the most popular issuer in August. And Refinitiv US Holdings continued to be the most sold US issuer by CLOs, according to the latest trustee reports from CLO-i 

Lenders turn to quality over quantity

Points up front: Best to price your deals between 12 and 6am
The latest addition to JP Morgan’s index suite — which aims to quantify the impact of US president Donald Trump’s tweets on the financial markets — has been so popular it has landed its own Wikipedia entry

US loan trading: Sinclair loans dominate the airwaves as CLOs tune in
Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Diamond Sports – both subsidiaries of issuer Sinclair - worked their way into CLO portfolios in July, with 91 managers purchasing $1.42 billion of the loans in July

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.

CLO managers went to CCC, to see what they could CCC…
CLO portfolios are drifting towards low single B and triple C names. But triple C buckets are not in danger of overflowing, so managers can be even more aggressive 

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

US CLOs thrive as managers embrace secondary loan market
Leveraged loan issuance is supposed to feed and keep CLOs healthy, but a 62% slowdown in US loan volumes this year was accompanied by average CLO equity distributions ticking 19% higher.

Investors seek oasis as new issues dry up

Rival manager’s warehouse contributes to new CIFC US CLO
CIFC Asset Management has had a productive year after pricing four new issue US CLOs but sources say that the manager’s latest deal, CIFC Funding 2019-IV, owes a lot to another CLO manager.

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.

US loan trading: CLO managers on cloud nine after Ultimate Software allocations
CLO managers took down about 27% of Ultimate Software's loans in April, when the cloud operator issued its $2.3 billion first lien term loan due 2026, according to CLO-i

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