Structured credit fund loses 32.4% in March as junior US CLO debt slumps
Volta Finance’s net asset value dropped 32.4% in March, according to a monthly report released yesterday. US CLO debt was the weakest performer for the structured credit fund, managed by Axa Investment Managers, losing 41.3%.

LSC bankruptcy leaves print marks on CLOs
CLOs hold $84.3 million of the debt of LSC Communications, which filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of New York yesterday.  

ArrowMark liquidates 2014 CLO after selling assets in February
ArrowMark Colorado Holdings has liquidated its CLO named Elevation CLO 2014-3

Beneath the triple C: $31.6 billion of CLO credits feel downgrade pain
March madness took a toll on CLOs as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s downgraded 4.25% of the portfolios in the US and 1.84% in Europe to triple C or below in just one month (some of these were already triple C rated, only to fall further).

S&P puts 48 triple C-heavy CLOs on negative watch
A spike in loan assets rated triple C as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has led S&P Ratings to put 48 CLO tranches on negative watch

Axa IM cancels Volta dividend due to CLO equity cash flow uncertainty
Axa Investment Managers has has cancelled the 28 April dividend payment to investors in its listed credit fund Volta Finance “in light of the ongoing uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic"

Kayne Anderson CLO trades high as double A investors factor in portfolio health
Demand for high quality mezzanine US CLO paper is picking up, according to trader sources, with the most sought after single As trading at about 425 basis points and the best triple Bs trading at 670bp towards the end of last week

CLO investors should be able to see live secondary trading levels
Olga Chernova of Sancus Capital takes our credit quiz

Miscast as the villains of the 2008 crisis, CDS may prove to be the heroes of 2020
Credit default swaps provide investors with valuable signals on the depth of the coronavirus crisis

Investors need to ask: can my asset manager survive the crisis?

The opportunities to build par and spread within a CLO haven’t been this plentiful since 2009
Last year’s CLOs could become the benchmark for manager performance

Asset managers pull all liquidity levers to satisfy borrowers
A paramount concern for many investors in direct lending funds is whether asset managers have enough liquidity to meet borrower requests for funding

Structured credit dragged very wide — but CLOs stand to gain
Senior tranches of securitisations widened 220% in less than a month as the coronavirus pandemic has meant an increase in systemic risk — a sharp turnaround from the past few months when idiosyncratic risks were being cited as the main concern for structured credit investors.

SME CLO features PDL mechanism
Details of the groundbreaking Alhambra SME Funding 2019-1 — the first 2.0 CLO backed by loans to small and midsized enterprises — were revealed at the Direct Lending Forum jointly hosted by Creditflux and Debtwire last month.

They said it: "Start writing the story about banks making margin calls to buyers of CLOs using repo!"
A reader comments on our 25 March report “US fund managers put on leveraged CLO triple A trade with a view to 13% returns”, pointing out that banks were pulling loan TRS lines, but still had the appetite to support leveraged CLO trades.

Empty rooms test CRE CLOs linked to lodging
After a banner year for CRE CLOs, the asset class seems uniquely exposed to the coronavirus — particularly for loan collateral tied to lodging, according to research from Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

‘Hoard credit’ says PM as markets swing
As Creditflux went to press, the covid-19 death toll in Italy surged by 700 after two days of slowing, and the US congress agreed a $2 trillion stimulus package.

We’ve got time to work this out
You might think direct lenders are very exposed to economic downturns. But at the Creditflux-Debtwire event last month, managers said they felt they had a few months to rectify problems

We’ve survived before, we can do so again

Credit funds at a glance

A round-up of fundraising and people moves in credit

CLOs at a glance: CLO primary market grinds to a halt
A round-up of CLO performance

Ucits at a glance: Long-short approach lifts Pictet to the top

Fund perfomance: Slowdown for some as pandemic takes hold

Fair Oaks suspends dividends from listed CLO fund citing covid-19 uncertainty
Fair Oaks Capital has suspended dividends on its listed CLO fund “in light of the ongoing uncertainty in economies and markets caused by covid-19 pandemic”, according to an update to investors in the $315 million fund

S&P adds to CLO negative watch list as loan downgrades pick up
Standard & Poor’s has added to the list of tranches in CLOs it has on negative watch as coronavirus concerns mount. This follows the rating agency last week highlighting 22 tranches across 15 US CLOs for having big exposure to downgraded corporate borrowers across impacted industry sectors