‘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

Deluxe decline leaves CLOs feeling deflated

US loan trading: CLO managers flee Acosta but gorge on Buckeye
Loan holdings in October gave CLO managers a taste of the good, the bad and the ugly: they feasted on Buckeye, fled Acosta, and could not get rid of Deluxe   

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

CLO managers brace themselves for Acosta bankruptcy
CLOs hold $402.5 million exposure to Acosta, a sales and marketing agency that is looking likely to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy soon. A total of $163.7 million of Acosta’s term loan left the hands of CLOs 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 

The manager, not the market, decides value in direct lending
Mid market loan spreads are contracting, but that’s a reflection of low volatility not excess cash

Analysts have interpreted the IG credit risk premium in various ways — but the point is to harvest it
Selling CDS protection could be the most effective way of capturing excess premiums in investment grade credit

We didn’t take full advantage of volatility

They said it: "Risky unmarked things are not not-risky. It will end in tears"

Inflows boost structured credit mutual funds
Low rates have seen loan mutual funds battle $42 billion of outflows this year, but structured credit funds have been able to grow while capitalising on this volatility, according to sources.

Fund performance
A round-up of fund performance click here.

CLOs at a glance
A round-up of CLO performance

CBOs aren’t fixated on interest rate moves
The loan sell off at the start of this year highlighted that CBOs are not a play on interest rates or bond prices — they’re taking advantage of the flexibility to rotate between loans and bonds

Few CLOs charred by Murray bankruptcy
25 CLO managers hold  $389.6 million exposure to the debt of coal company Murray Energy Holdings, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of Ohio on Tuesday, according to the latest trustee reports from CLO-i