No hedges, but no problem for optimistic CLO investors
CLOs are prone to idiosyncratic risks, but investors have told Creditflux that they are confident about performance in 2020, despite the lack of hedging options. The general consensus is that some deals will suffer, but the vast majority will deliver after a disappointing end to 2019 for junior debt.

Credit funds at a glance
A round-up of fundraising and people moves in credit

Fund performance: CLO funds pick up where they left off
A round-up of fund performance

Making arb work of it
In 2019, some CLO managers hoped that good timing would enable them to lock in favourable arbitrage levels, but others opted for aggressive or conservative tactics when building portfolios. 

Credit Rendezvous: the outlook in 2020 across a dozen segments of the credit market
Welcome to the Credit Rendezvous, the first instalment of a regular feature published by Creditflux that tracks credit market dynamics in a dozen segments from investment grade, liquid loans, CLOs and CSOs all the way through to distressed debt. We view this as the meeting point for credit specialists across strategies to share their perspectives

2020 will be about relative value, watching for idiosyncratic risk and a good deal of running away
Investors must embrace change — it’s time for structured credit investors to look beyond vanilla CLOs

CSAM sees sun after nine years in shade

Fund performance: Presents under the tree as CLO funds perform

CLOs at a glance: Lightning strikes twice with static shocks

Credit funds at a glance

You need a balanced portfolio that’s ready for calculated risk taking — so consider a barbell approach
Investors can’t afford to be too conservative as they prepare for the end of the cycle

Partners nears $100 billion in AUM as CLOs drive private debt growth
Swiss manager Partners Group has reached $94.1 billion in assets under management, with CLOs boosting the firm’s growth, according to its 2019 annual results  

Don’t get too comfortable. The truth is there are hundreds of things that could be catalysts for a sell-off
Just because there’s no obvious sign of a sell-off, doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. Often, market moves defy logic

‘Buying the dip’ is going to be a poor investment strategy when the next downturn comes
The next credit downturn will be shallower but more prolonged than the last, so what works will be different, too

Not all old tier one CLO managers lived up to their premier billing

Attack is the best form of defence
Yes, idiosyncratic risks are creeping into corporate credit. But speakers at Creditflux’s CLO Summit were convinced that the most creative firms will be able to thrive without taking on additional risk

CSO arrangers look to build on $65bn of issuance in 2019
The synthetic bespoke tranche market this year has fallen short of expectations in terms of overall issuance volume, but ends with transformative inroads being made.

Falling correlation reignites passion for index tranche trades
Dispersion in the global corporate credit market is rekindling interest in correlation trading, with dealer sources reporting that a late surge lifted 2019 index tranche volumes to $250 billion.

Pitching your structured credit fund: the three golden rules
Structured credit fund managers were given a lesson in how to market their strategies by a group of asset allocators at the Creditflux CLO Summit in New York.

Fund performance: Long-short funds rule in October as CLO funds struggle
A round-up of fund performance

CLOs at a glance: innovations arrive as year draws to close

Beware of "mequity" risk in direct lending, writes Barings
Barings co-head of global private finance, Ian Fowler, predicts that the adoption of lending terms associated with broadly syndicated loans into private credit will not prove beneficial in the long term

West coast pension looks to step up direct lending allocations
The City of Fresno Retirement System will commit $140-160 million to private credit for the next two years, according to board documentation seen by Creditflux. This comes amid a pause in direct lending commitments for the pension fund, which has not committed any capital to this market in 2019

Canadian pension awards €300 million to middle market real estate debt
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has awarded €300 million to a separately managed account focused on real estate across Spain and Portugal. The pension fund did not name who this partnership was with