Credit Rendezvous: heading for homes
Fund managers in structured credit, real assets and distressed are bullish on the prospects for residential housing in 2021. Elsewhere, niche royalty-based strategies are in favour and although a CLO repricing wave is expected, it may not be easy to execute resets. For more, read our 13-page quarterly report on credit. 

Beneath the triple C: 13 CLO loans take a dive but defaults subside to a ripple
22 corporate debt issuers were downgraded to triple C or below in November and December by Moody’s or S&P, out of which 13 can be found in CLO portfolios  – hurting $4.55 billion of US CLO loans, €1.87 billion of European CLO portfolios and almost $80 million of middle market CLOs loans, according to CLO-i

CLO issuers flex their bond muscles
Some panellists at Creditflux’s US CLO Investor Summit pointed to structural difficulties, but the consensus was that flexibility — particularly the ability to buy bonds — could improve performance

Fund performance: CLOs look to continue recovery with end of the year in sight
CLO funds claim the majority of positions in our top 10

Ucits at a glance: Year-to-date returns head for double figures
Ucits funds generally performed well in October as 75% achieved positive returns

Credit funds at a glance (January 2021)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Credit hedge funds (January 2021)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Equity investors call time on CSAM bond-flex CLOs
Two of Credit Suisse Asset Management’s three bond-flex CLOs were called by their equity investors in October, according to notices seen by Creditflux, despite both deals being within their reinvestment periods

Europe leads corporate credit rally, but US outperforms in CLOs
iTraxx Crossover has been the CDS market's outperformer this week, tightening over 30 basis points, or 11.4%, to trade at 235bp today. But in the CLO market, US deals have come out on top thanks to a BlackRock CLO that priced its double Bs at some of the tightest levels this year

Compression plays out as HY and European CLO double Bs outperform
Investment grade and high yield credit spreads have tightened in sync with each other this week, but CDS and CLOs alike underline that the big theme over the past month has been compression between investment grade and high yield

IG and crossover indices converge while European CLO double Bs rally
iTraxx Crossover is again outperforming Main today with the investment grade index widening 0.11bp to 52.56bp while the crossover index is 2.42bp tighter to 296.99bp. Meanwhile bank research signals that junior CLO tranches could benefit as investors look at covid industries through a different lense 

CDS indices edge wider and positive skew opens as Pershing Square puts on new hedge
Credit indices have widened a touch this week but they’re back in focus with reports that Pershing Square Capital Management, led by Bill Ackman, has this week used CDS indices to hedge parts of its equity portfolio

European CLO double Bs jump wider amid October macro worries - but seniors stand firm
The fortunes of investment grade and high yielding European CLO tranches have gone in opposite directions in the last month. In a year where relative value has shifted several times, Creditflux analysis shows that new issue European CLO double Bs have blown out by 16.5% in October versus September, while triple A-rated notes have tightened 6.7% in that time

Robots rise for credit ratings
A fintech platform is launching this month that aims to use artificial intelligence to democratise credit ratings.

Credit rally slows but structured finance funds gain
Corporate credit spreads levelled off in September, which means that 63% of funds in the Creditflux database have just a single quarter left to make it to positive returns for the calendar year.  

Fund performance: Structured finance finds its footing with credit rally
For the first time this year we have seen a structured finance fund take the top spot, as Serone Key Opportunities Fund leads a multitude of other funds in this category in the top 10 of our monthly fund rankings

Ucits at a glance: European funds and CLOs head rankings
Ucits fund returns

Credit funds at a glance (November 2020)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

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

Ares holds €6.97 billion first close on European direct lending fund
Ares Management Group has collected $12 billion in gross credit commitments over the third quarter of the year, according to the firm’s earnings presentation, including $8.2 billion for the first closing of its fifth European direct lending fund

Credit Rendezvous: sometimes you have to dive deep to find value
Some parts of the credit market are fraught with danger, but that does not mean portfolio managers are avoiding them entirely, according to the Credit Rendezvous, Creditflux's 10-page quarterly report eaturing comments from 15 credit experts

Senior bond-flex CLO tranches are 'cheapest bonds within securitised products': BofA
Triple A-rated notes of bond-flex CLOs are 'one of the cheapest bonds within securitised products', according to a new research paper by Bank of America

Credit spreads wind back to February to bring shorts into focus
The credit rally since April has opened up an opportunity to go short credit, say fund managers, with spreads back to where they were in late February

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

Ucits at a glance: Advent and Algebris edge towards double digit returns
Two managers stand out in the Ucits rankings as they close in on 10% YTD figures