Och-Ziff revenue tumbles despite inflows to credit funds and CLOs
Och-Ziff Capital Management posted a net loss of $8.6 million in the second quarter, which it blamed on the market’s reaction to US China trade tensions and the US Federal Reserve’s twist of monetary policy

Investors seek oasis as new issues dry up

Flat curves and decompression make waves below the surface
Hopes of using the summer slowdown to get to the beach may be tempered for credit relative value traders, where opportunities abound behind the uninspiring benchmark numbers of the slow market grind.

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.

Net short language could force lenders to sell at a loss
Signs are growing that ‘net short’ provisions in bonds and loans are getting closer to hitting CDS investors, with two instances in recent weeks of the language expanding both in geographical and functional remit.

Back to basis (and skew) as relative value plays catch-up
Basis trades between bonds and CDS failed to gain traction during July as synthetic markets held ground or improved their position versus cash, but this is beginning to change, say market participants.

Fund performance: Mercury rises as does credit fund performance

Ucits at a glance: Amundi and Loomis Sayles funds register big gains in H1

BlackRock launches $2 billion coporate credit fund with special situations remit
BlackRock has closed its flagship opportunistic credit fund, Global Credit Opportunities, with $2 billion capital commitments

BlueMountain lands senior credit trader in New York
BlueMountain has hired an experienced trader in New York to cover credit and special situations

Upward flexes, CLOs gather speed and 'net-short' language develops [podcast]
The Acuris Fixed Income Group in North America recounts Q2 in the leveraged credit markets.    

Kayne Anderson targets direct lending and liquid credit mix for new fund
Kayne Anderson is looking to launch a closed-ended fund focused on direct lending, liquid credit and energy and infrastructure equity investments

Credit plays a big part as KKR increases AUM by $6.5 billion
KKR grew its assets under management by 8% over the second quarter, according to the firm’s earnings call, which took place on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs creates sustainable finance group
Goldman Sachs has launched a sustainable finance group, to deliver sustainable growth solutions to the bank’s clients, according to documents seen by Creditflux.  

Credit traders' kickstand: tighter and tighter we go, as outlook gets 'worse and worse'
It’s a strange world, where the president of the European Central Bank can say the economic outlook is “getting worse and worse” as credit markets surge into new territories of tightness

Weatherford CDS auction delivers 55.5 cent pay-out to protection buyers
A credit event auction to settle Weatherford International CDS returned a final price of 44.5 cents on the dollar, lower than where bonds had been quoted and meaning a pay-out to protection buyers of 55.5 cents

Final list of deliverables published for Weatherford CDS auction
There will be 17 notes deliverable into an auction on Thursday to settle Weatherford International CDS, the Americas Determinations Committee has confirmed

GSO adds $10 billion to inflows with direct lending, structured credit and energy
Blackstone grew its credit assets under management to $139.3 billion, up 13% on a year ago, according to the firm's second quarter earnings release

Morgan Stanley joins participating bidders for Weatherford CDS auction
Morgan Stanley has been added to the list of participating bidders for an auction next week to settle CDS referencing Weatherford International CDS, with the Americas Determinations Committee also confirming 17 deliverable obligations on the supplemental list

Investor requirements rather than performance is driving ESG push: Creditflux survey
Only 14% of respondents to Creditflux's global credit ESG survey said performance was the main reason they were adopting envoronmental, social and governance-themed strategies

Weatherford CDS auction next week could have 17 deliverables
There are 17 notes on the initial list of deliverable obligations for an auction next week to settle Weatherford International CDS, the Americas Determinations Committee has said

CDS has spillover effect on bond liquidity but could cause fire sales, finds BoE researcher
Single name CDS positioning is positive for the bonds of borrowers referenced by the contracts through a ‘liquidity spillover effect’, according to a new paper by a Bank of England research economist. But mark-to-market losses on CDS brought about by higher margining costs could lead to fire sales in the bond market, the paper adds.

Calpers misses returns target despite fixed income outperformance
California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) has missed its annual investment target despite strong performance from its fixed income portfolio, which was its top performer  

NatWest brings in Nomura's head of credit trading in New York
NatWest Markets has announced the appointment of Michael Papa as head of its US investment grade credit trading and credit strategy.

Credit traders’ kickstand: curve flatteners and skew trades gain ground
Grinding tighter is the order of the day in credit markets – and indeed looks likely to be the order for much of next week, with an absence of obvious events and catalysts to dictate otherwise. But the strength of the rally in CDS indices has left ‘catch up’ opportunities for relative value traders in curve, basis and even skew based strategies, say market participants