Direct lenders pile into "turbocharged" market as fundraising skyrockets: report
Growth in the direct lending market in the 12 months to 31 December was “turbocharged,” growing robustly in the fourth quarter 2017 in particular due to a consistently growing Eurozone economy, according to Deloitte

European Commission introduces proposals to tackle high levels of NPLs
In a bid to address the high levels of non-performing loans that are sitting on bank balance sheets, and to reduce future accumulation of NPLs in the banking sector, the European Commission yesterday released proposals to try and tackle the issue.

High Ucits fees? Change strategy or face liquidation, report suggests
Substantially high fees on Ucits have led some funds to merge or liquidate, France’s stock market regulator says

Join the debate: flippin' heck, you're distorting the CLO market
After our report on a CLO investor flipping 2018 bonds before the deals had even closed, one reader pointed out that this "masks true demand"

Cheyne generates double-digit returns for hedge funds
Cheyne Capital has delivered with two credit hedge funds that have reached their maturity

Capital Four fund soft closes at €350 million
Copenhagen-based Capital Four Invest has recommended a soft close for its Luxembourg-domiciled Credit Opportunities Fund following its growth to €350 million

Synthetic CDOs seek to follow CLOs
Growing issuance, interest in longer maturities and the emergence of a secondary market are encouraging dealers to believe that bespokes are on the road to acceptance. By Sayed Kadiri

London manager shutters emerging market fund amid "regulatory headwinds"
London-based Insparo Asset Management is shutting down its emerging market debt funds, the company confirms

Private credit drives strong AUM growth for Tikehau
Tikehau Capital grew its AUM by close to 10% in the fourth quarter of 2017 – and private debt had the largest inflows of any of the firm’s asset groups last year

Tetragon shuts down distressed debt fund amid claims of fundraising struggles
Tetragon Financial Group is shuttering one of its subsidiary’s funds amid claims of troubles with fundraising

Axa IM looks to increase credit product offerings in the upcoming year
Axa Investment Managers (AXA IM) is looking to further build on its credit business, offering total return credit products as well as structured finance and real assets, in 2018

Natixis AM reports $1 trillion AUM in 2017 results
Paris-headquartered Natixis has reported solid growth, and an end-of-2017 AUM of $1 trillion, for its asset and wealth management unit

ICG increases fundraising goal as direct lending funds near full deployment
London-based Intermediate Capital Group has increased its fundraising target to €6 billion per year on a rolling three-year basis

So much capital, so few deals: specialists fear for direct lending
No covenants, increasing leverage ratios and an outlook for rising rates means that direct lending is not all it's cracked up to be, according to several credit market participants

Hurdle rates topple as direct lenders look to boost fees
Some direct lending managers are lowering their hurdle rates in a bid to increase their fees

Direct lending head says market is overheating
A 2018 outlook report by KKR suggests now’s the time to reduce exposure to direct lending. This comes as another part of KKR goes on a direct lending fundraising spree

Managers predict skill will win out
We asked managers to predict the year ahead across a range of credit strategies. Overall, they had a positive outlook. By Grace Jennings-Edquist

Who predicted $145 billion of issuance?
That went better than expected: US risk retention came in, and $145 billion of global new issuance later, it’s clear that CLOs aren’t disappearing. By Tanvi Gupta and Sam Robinson

European CLO round-up: Carlyle and Investcorp share reset record
Much like its counterpart in US, the European CLO market is off to a speedy start with two resets and a refi – generating total volumes of €1.5 billion

Morgan Stanley's fixed income sales dramatically dip in Q4 earnings report
Morgan Stanley's sales and trading net revenues took a dip in 2017, with fixed income net revenues in particular down 31% compared to 2016 figures

Euro league tables: Citi tops rankings in a year of growth for the CLO market
50 new issue CLOs, 39 active managers and four debutants: Creditflux analyses the revival of the European CLO market last year

European direct lending up 34% in recent quarter: Deloitte report
Direct lending in Europe continues to boom, according to the latest Deloitte deal tracker, which found a 34% growth of direct lending deals in third quarter 2017 alone compared to third quarter 2016

Trailblazing ethical investment fund from Rathbones passes £1 billion
Well before ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing became a buzzword, a Rathbones-managed fund was investing in ethical companies. Now that vehicle – Rathbone Ethical Bond fund – has passed £1.03 billion

Credit markets ignore geopolitical exposures, suggests Guggenheim
Global credit spreads have spent 2017 tightening, but markets may be ignoring certain risks, according to Anne Walsh, chief investment officer for Guggenheim’s fixed income unit