CLO credit quality improving – Fitch
CLO performance remained stable in November, with few changes made to Fitch’s ratings

Euro triple-Cs buckets are trending up but investors remain sanguine
The European CLO market has had a number of leveraged loan ratings downgrades, but investors say they’ve mostly been idiosyncratic events and the situation remains manageable

European CLO equity distributions keep getting better, US keep getting worse
The latest distributions for post-reinvestment US CLOs show the impact of rapid prepayment rates, but post-reinvestment European CLOs are bucking that trend and seem to be improving with age.

Sterling-denominated leveraged debt faces greater challenges than euro, says Fitch
UK loans and bonds are facing greater challenges than issuers from other European geographies including bigger operational and capital market challenges, according to new research from Fitch Ratings

European CLO managers trade loans to avoid (par) burn
Between March and July, European CLO managers traded €21 billion of assets within CLOs that were still in their reinvestment period as opportunities arose amid a weaker macro environment and Russia’s war with Ukraine

Apollo scooped up $1.1 billion CLO paper amid UK LDI crisis, officials confirm
Apollo Global Management bought a whopping $1.1 billion of triple A and double A-rated CLO paper yielding over 8% in the three weeks of elevated bwic supply in October

US managers recalibrate as Euro CLO portfolio spreads rise: Moody's
CLO managers have had to readjust this year and data from Moody’s Investor Services shows weighted average rating factor scores for all US CLOs have held steady, while weighted average spreads have dropped 0.15%

US loan index falls below 92 to almost wipe out gains since July
The S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Index sank to an average bid of 91.92 cents by Monday, down by two points in as many weeks, wiping out almost all the gains seen in the late-summer market rally

CLO debt prices imply default rate exceeding forecasts, says Orchard Global
Current pricing of CLO debt tranches implies a default rate that is "far in excess" of the most pessimistic forecasts, according to Orchard Global Asset Management

Axa IM plots Euro CLO warehouse investment amid loan pressure and possible liquidations
Some European CLO warehouse may face liquidations and there will be further pressure on leveraged loans in the last quarter of the year, according to Axa Investment Management

Bridgepoint becomes control equity investor in 2021 CLO after secondary trade
Bridgepoint says it bought an additional 30% equity stake in its third European CLO, Bridgepoint CLO 3, meaning the firm has a majority equity interest in the deal at 61%. The price suggests the CLO is performing well 

European junior CLO debt can withstand downturn without taking principal loss: TwentyFour
European CLO single Bs are able to weather a “moderately pessimistic forecast” in which loan defaults spike to 6.5% for two years, without coming close to taking a principal loss, according to a blog written by TwentyFour Asset Management’s Elena Rinaldi.

Oaktree identifies CLOs among top picks in credit
Oaktree Capital Management’s head of performing credit Armen Panossian has outlined CLO tranches among his three favoured investments in this market

Beneath the triple C: CLOs take first knock since covid scrapes
CLO managers have been hit by a number of loan downgrades to triple C for the first time since the wave of pandemic-related cuts trickled to a halt in early 2021. Companies indirectly linked to the health sector suffered most in May 

Problem in checkout area as CLO favourite Diebold Nixdorf slips to triple C
Diebold Nixdorf, an Ohio-headquartered technology firm with $538 million in debt held by CLOs globally, was downgraded to triple-C by rating agency Moody’s on Friday

Defaults should keep low despite looming recession, says TwentyFour
Corporate default rates should remain low even as the chance of a recession looms larger, according to a new report from TwentyFour Asset Management

CBAM: star power, friends in insurance, and doing things 'my way'
"And now the end is here, and so I face that final curtain... I've lived a life that's full, I traveled each and every highway, And more, much more
I did it, I did it my way". Sinatra could easily have been thinking of CBAM when he penned these lyrics. We look back at how a group of experienced CLO officials came together to launch a mega player in the CLO business in no time at all 

Packaging company Schur is painful for European CLOs
The dramatic fall in loans taken out by Austrian flexible plastic packaging manufacturer Schur Flexibles has shocked CLO managers. The firm is hiring PJT Partners and Allen & Overy ahead of a potential restructuring

CLOs should realise gains from reorg equity positions: Pearl Diver
Reorg equity sitting within CLOs has risen in value over the last year and Pearl Diver Capital says it may be a good time to exit these positions “and realise value for CLOs”

SME CLO supremo leaves Be-Spoke for expanding Spanish firm
One of the pioneers behind SME CLOs has left Be-Spoke Capital to join another Spanish lender. He leaves behind the only SME CLO in Europe since the 2008 financial crisis  

The Last Tranche with Napier Park's Secmen: tailwinds fuelling CLO market mask manager incompetence
In this episode of the Last Tranche, Serhan Secmen, head of US CLO investments at Napier Park Global Capital, joins to discuss how equity investors choose which managers to allocate to for the best long-term performance

Global CLO trading lab: bank sells $834 million triple As in quarterly reallocation as hedge fund trades CLO equity
Thursday’s secondary CLO market was the busiest of 2021, with over $1 billion of US CLOs on offer. This featured an enormous b-wic worth $834.3 million, where sources have told Creditflux of the bank behind the aucton. While a large credit hedge fund is said to have sold out of control CLO equity 

CLO Census latest: banks in tight race, 51% optimistic on Sofr and large managers viewed as outperformers
More than 100 CLO market participants have already cast their vote in the most tightly-contested Creditflux CLO Census ever with a single vote separating the top three banks at US and European CLO execution. Meanwhile, most voters are unworried by the Sofr migration and BlackRock, CSAM, CIFC and PGIM are among the CLO managers viewed as having outperformed following the covid crash. Click here to vote: CreditfluxCLOCensus2021