Spire wins Creditflux Manager of the Year award
Spire Partners was the big winner at Creditflux's Manager Awards last night as the London-based manager scooped the award for the manager of the year. On top of this, the firm picked up awards for Best European CLO Manager and Best European CLO for Aurium CLO II

Superficial analysis in the press fails to account for critical differences between CLOs and CDOs
Credit risk is rising, but any failures among CLOs will not impact the financial system as a whole

CLO single Bs to return with higher attachments
US CLO equity investors this year seem to be focused on downside risk and this is evident in the lack of single B-rated debt in 2019 CLOs. However, there is demand emerging for a new style of single B-rated tranches that are forcing some equity investors to reconsider their stance.

Fund performance
A round-up of fund performance

Ucits at a glance
A round-up of ucits performance

CLOs at a glance
A round-up of CLO performance

Sungard bankruptcy to cause minor burns for CLOs
A total of $202.5 million of the loan basks in CLO structures - but managers are unlikely to get badly burned, sources say. And CLOs are fairly well-positioned to retain such assets with several structural factors and indenture provisions

Texas pension fund looks to top up credit portfolio
Texas County & District Retirement System (TCDRS) has decided to increase by 3% its target allocation to strategic credit  

Danish pension fund eyes niche credit opportunities
PensionDanmark is preparing for more volatility in 2019 by casting its eye towards niche opportunities in the special situations and distressed debt market. The Copenhagen-based pension fund last month merged its alternatives and private debt platforms

CVC, Octagon and Spire vie for multiple Creditflux awards
Creditflux is pleased to unveil the finalists for the most prestigious awards dinner in the credit

Large, liquid loans aren’t always perfect
CLOs could be forgiven for rushing to buy Refinitiv loans — after all it was the biggest LBO since the crisis. But some large managers have abstained, while others have bought opportunistically

Liquidity and disclosure issues threaten potential CRE CLO market
Most investors that participate in the commercial real estate CLO market want to increase their exposure. But the lack of liquidity and standardised disclosure is holding them back.

Credit funds at a glance

A round-up of fundraising and people moves in credit

CLOs at a glance
Managers focus on AUM building via new issues

Fund performance
Long-short and high yield keep up the momentum

Moving on from the late 2018 hangover
It might be too early to call a full recovery, but it’s fair to say that the US loan market is back on track with $48 billion of institutional issuance in 2019 — 88% of which is made up of new issues

Leveraged loans pose credit risk but not systemic risk, conference told
Regulators and the press need to understand the difference between credit risk and systemic risk, claimed panelists at the IMN European CLOs and Leveraged Loans conference

US CLO managers look to scale flat WALs in search of flexibility
The anticipation of a downturn in the credit cycle has made investors turn their attention toward document provisions that give CLO managers flexibility

Regulation stifles SRTs, but banks and investors revel in quarter-four outperformance
Over the course of 2018 there was roughly €6.5 billion of issuance in the market for significant risk transfer (SRT) deals, sources say, with the last three months understood to be the busiest quarter on record

Demonised triple Bs could outshine angelic neighbours
There has been a stampede to denounce triple B corporate credit, but investors ditching this rating band may not only miss solid returns but find bigger problems up the spectrum, investors and analysts tell Creditflux.

AT1s should be highly valued, not feared
Additional tier one (AT1) bonds stand out as a rich source of value this year, say portfolio managers, despite the shock headlines generated mid-February by Santander’s decision not to call a €1.5 billion note

We can’t hide it any longer, we’re tiering up
With the opening months of 2019 highlighting a clear class system among CLO managers, there has never been a better time to assess tiering. We find that timing, patience and luck all play a role

Managers swoop on largest DIP in years
San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric has tapped $5.5 billion of debtor-in-possession financing. Restructuring is likely to be fraught, but ten CLO managers have bought the loans

The extra 250-350bp is excessive compensation for the incremental risks run by long-term CLO investors
Double B-rated CLOs price at a premium over corporate credit and yet default rates are much lower