Credit hedge funds (August 2020)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Three years after launch, Rockford Tower joins the elite
The CLO platform launched by King Street Capital Management in 2017 has been crowned Creditflux Manager of the Year

New funds move in as tranche trades take off
Synthetic structured credit funds are proving popular with investors amid a spike in index tranche trading

Fieldwood slips into second bankruptcy as CLOs hold $314 million
CLO managers hold $314.5 million of oil and gas drilling company Fieldwood Energy, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday for the second time in two years 

US CLO single Bs reach post-crisis tights despite rating pressure
US CLO single Bs are trading at their tightest levels since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak and ,while these bonds make up a tiny slice of the market, more and more instances of single B b-wics are ocurring

Majority equity in BlueMountain US CLO goes up for sale
A majority of the equity in BlueMountain CLO 2018-1 is up for sale tomorrow in a sign that Assured Guaranty could be following through on its plan to change its CLO manager’s issuance model

Carlyle defers $4 million CLO management fees in the second quarter
Carlyle Group deferred $4 million subordinate fees on its CLOs in the second quarter, representatives for the firm announced on the company's earnings call on Thursday

US private credit defaults jump to 8.1% with smaller firms taking the brunt
US private credit defaults increased up to 8.1% at the end of the second quarter, up from 5.9% in Q1, according to the Proskauer Private Credit Default Index

Onex to liquidate listed US loan fund
Onex Credit Partners has announced that it will liquidate its publicly listed leveraged loan fund, OCP Senior Credit Fund, following a slump in asset levels

Covid could trigger 'mega trend' into private debt, says Blackstone's Gray
The coronavirus pandemic could spark a 'mega trend' of investors into alternatives in private credit, Blackstone's president and chief operating officer said on the firm's second quarter earnings call on Thursday

Swedish fund nears public listing after big gains on CLO and tranche trades
Stockholm-based Ymer SC is moving forward with plans to list its structured credit fund on the Nordic Growth Market exchange in Sweden

OC health check: breaches start to take toll on July payment dates
37 CLOs reported an over-collateralisation test failure last week, but this was a falling percentage of those publishing trustee reports and none were fresh breaches

Fair Oaks resumes dividends on listed CLO fund
Fair Oaks Capital will resume paying dividends on its listed fund Fair Oaks Income Fund

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

Beneath the triple C: downgrades hold steady as Travelport loses its luggage
For the second month in a row downgrades to triple C steadied, with just under $9 billion of CLO loans falling to this rating across 34 corporate borrowers

Creditflux announces finalists for Manager of the Year award
Ahead of the virtual awards ceremony on 15 July Creditflux is thrilled to announce the four finalists for the prestigious Manager of the Year category.

SkyBridge generates best returns since inception with 75% credit exposure
SkyBridge Capital, the fund of hedge funds manager run by ex-White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, claims its Skybridge G II Fund has generated the best monthly and quarterly returns since inception. It will also cut its 25% tender offer frequency from quarterly to semi-annual

OC health check: CLOs heal up with no new breaches among US BSL deals
53 CLOs reported an over-collateralisation (OC) test breach last week, but only two CLOs breached an OC test for the first time, neither of which were US broadly syndicated loan CLOs

Trading places: it can pay to bet on the little guy
It’s assumed investors know how good a CLO manager is by the rate at which they trade their way through a crisis. But this time fi ve small, nimble managers are outperforming the market

Preparing for a second wave
Panellists on the Creditflux US private credit webinar last month said that they were focused on companies most affected by the coronavirus. A reopening of the primary market can wait

It’s all going to plan
Whether managers are relaxed because they can make up losses later, or are putting more money into their deals, panellists on the Creditflux West webinar weren’t panicking about OC breaches

Fund performance: CLO funds keep up the momentum for second month running
May returns have been led by continued momentum from CLO funds. In the last month, funds that invest in CLO notes in some capacity have made up 90% of our top 10, while 97% of funds listed generated positive returns - an improvement of 15% on last month's figures.

Ucits at a glance: Ucits recover lost ground
The foot has come off the gas for many funds - 57% of funds did not break the 2% return barrier.

Investors take comfort from an active secondary market, but liquidity can be a mixed blessing
One of the most interesting characteristics of credit behaviour during the coronavirus era has been the momentum of junk bonds, with sharp changes in issuer and investor confidence around the asset class driven by technical factors: near-zero interest rates, the Fed’s support of fallen angels and skewed-to-worse ratings for leveraged loans