Points up front: “Thanks for the loan.” “What loan?”
Direct lending sounds simple enough; borrowers have direct engagement with a small set of lenders and negotiate a private agreement for the long-haul. Sounds easy enough, except when the lender claims to have no idea about the deal you’ve just announced.

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. 

Euro loan trading: CLO managers find a home for building specialist's downsized loan
CRH Europe issued a €700 million term loan B in November, which was downsized from €900 million. But still, it has proved popular with CLO managers with CLO-i indicating that CLOs bought €275.2 million of the loan

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.

Managers amend CLO structures amid refinancing ripple
CLO managers have deployed various measures to keep their deals ticking amid a European refinancing wave.

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

Established firms say managers new to European CLOs will struggle to attract assets
New managers making their way in the European CLO market may have a fight on their hands, with sources noting the difficulty these firms face in getting sizeable allocations.

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 

NNIP's private debt head moves to private equity job
The team leader for direct lending, loan portfolio financing and non-performing loan securitisations at NN Investment Partners has moved to a senior private equity job at AnaCap Financial Partners

Lenders turn to quality over quantity

European CLO managers join tussle for high-quality loans
CLO managers which have been looking to de-risk their portfolios may have a fight on their hands if they seek to get hold of higher-quality paper in the primary market.

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

PE firms take hands-on approach to syndication
European private equity firms are building out their debt capital market capabilities in a move which could radically improve information flow.

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