Hot August sets tone for rest of 2025
Some European CLO managers still get time off in summer, but the days when the whole market shut down are long gone. So, in a busy year for CLOs, this August was the second busiest ever

Opportunity in CLO double B tranches
Given their low default rates, double B CLO tranches offer much higher coupons than might be expected — suggesting they offer some of the best risk/return trade-offs in all of fixed income

Triple C assets and capital preservation
In the US and Europe, better performing CLOs tend to hold fewer triple C assets. But even so, a third of top performing CLOs in the US have more than 6% of their assets in the triple C bucket.

Static deals stand out in Europe
European CLO equity in redeemed deals has delivered excellent returns. But managers might be surprised to discover that static deals are the region’s stars

CLO strategies outperform again
In 2023, our index of funds investing in CLO tranches and equity returned 22.9%. In the first six months of this year, the index reached 9.9%, as these funds again delivered outstanding results

European managers struggle to add alpha
Before the COVID pandemic, European CLOs comfortably outperformed the Morningstar European Euro-Denominated Loan Index. Since then, alpha has declined for many managers

Credit hedge funds
Credit hedge funds performance data

Credit funds at a glance
Fund performance, fund raising and LP commitments

Fund performance
A roundup of fund performance

Rope-a-dope brings knock-out returns
Post-pandemic US and European CLOs delivered mid-teen equity returns in 2022, despite a barrage of weak macroeconomic news and what could have been a heavyweight Libor mismatch  

Not every CLO can be a winner
The CLO industry has undeniably performed well enough to justify the plaudits it receives. But there will always be some unloved CLO tranches that slip into triple C territory

Arb work pays off
With day-one arbitrage alone delivering projected CLO cash-on-cash returns of 20-25%, 2021 may have been the best year ever for equity investors — at least until CLO spreads began to widen  

HY fund is exception to rule of CLOs
CLO funds have had back-to-back years of outperformance versus credit, proving the asset class is a great place to invest, rain or shine. But a Wasserstein HY fund was the star performer in 2021  

I’ll see your 2020 and raise you 2021
Discounted loans, Libor floors and bond flexibility helped make 2021 an even better year for CLO returns than 2020, as US CLOs distributed 15.54% and European CLOs paid 13.93% annualised

A fresh approach to loss distribution
Considering how cash balances change over time, loss distribution models can look very different to conventional thinking. So is your CLO’s pricing based on incorrect assumptions?  

Moving fast pays off for hedge funds
2020 was an up and down year in credit, and credit hedge fund managers had to move quickly to capture opportunities from the dislocations that inevitably opened up

At least 2020 wasn’t dreadful for CLOs
Last year’s downturn was another in which CLOs survived and in many cases thrived as active management and Libor floors helped managers deliver 13%-plus returns to equity

All’s well that ends well in 2020 OC tests
Swathes of CLOs failed over-collateralisation tests last year, but unlike the drawn-out recovery following the 2008 financial crisis, the return to compliance after the covid-19 crash was rapid 

Chin up – it’s been a pretty good effort
CLO managers did well to survive the covid-19 crash in loan valuations — but they failed to fully capitalise on the ensuing volatility, say participants in the Creditflux CLO Census 2020

Elements work against CLO managers in Q3
CLO equity distributions fell in Q3 largely due to factors, such as Libor mismatches, that CLO managers can’t control. But these headwinds could turn in favour of managers in the near future

New firms are rocking all over the world
Rockford Tower and other small global CLO issuers are showing that you don’t need decades of experience to be successful. It can be better to change the tune rather than repeat the classics

Managers weigh up matters of principal
CLO managers that were able to avoid OC traps made double-digit equity distributions in Q2, despite the headwinds. But these firms tended not to be among those that built the most par

Europe’s newcomers find ways to stand out
Last year’s new European CLO managers needed to provide something different for investors. In general, they’ve succeeded, with Capital Four having one of the smallest overlap figures in our data

A different kind of crisis
Panellists on Creditflux’s US CLO webinar were positive about the robustness of CLO structures and the role of cure contributions. But they warned about zombie defaults and gaming tests

Managers vie for trophies at new-look awards event
The 2020 Creditflux Manager Awards will take on a fresh complexion as we transition to a virtual event. But some things will never change: our finalists have been assessed using data alone