The sky is not falling in on the CLO market, writes PineBridge
CLO market participants are fighting against the perception that their strategy is the detonator to another nuclear financial crises. PineBridge Investments took aim this week at naysayers predicting doom, re-emphasising arguments made last month during Creditflux's CLO Symposium in London. 

Doing CLOs is hard work as recovery lags
There’s scrutiny on staffing, structures and, of course, ‘the challenging arb’. But Q4 volatility created opportunity, which led speakers at the Creditflux CLO Symposium to ask for more

Spire scales heights as Creditflux’s Manager of the Year 2019
Spire Partners celebrated bringing home three Creditflux awards, including the coveted Manager of the Year trophy, on a night of high spirits on 8 May at London’s Landmark Hotel.

Seriously, the CLO arb is difficult right now
We know the arbitrage for CLO equity is never perfect, but the arb progressively deteriorated through 2018. Since January, the picture has worsened further after a brief respite in December

Spire wins Creditflux Manager of the Year award
Spire Partners was the big winner at Creditflux's Manager Awards last night as the London-based manager scooped the award for the manager of the year. On top of this, the firm picked up awards for Best European CLO Manager and Best European CLO for Aurium CLO II

CLO single Bs to return with higher attachments
US CLO equity investors this year seem to be focused on downside risk and this is evident in the lack of single B-rated debt in 2019 CLOs. However, there is demand emerging for a new style of single B-rated tranches that are forcing some equity investors to reconsider their stance.

Sungard bankruptcy to cause minor burns for CLOs
A total of $202.5 million of the loan basks in CLO structures - but managers are unlikely to get badly burned, sources say. And CLOs are fairly well-positioned to retain such assets with several structural factors and indenture provisions

CVC, Octagon and Spire vie for multiple Creditflux awards
Creditflux is pleased to unveil the finalists for the most prestigious awards dinner in the credit

Liquidity and disclosure issues threaten potential CRE CLO market
Most investors that participate in the commercial real estate CLO market want to increase their exposure. But the lack of liquidity and standardised disclosure is holding them back.

US CLO managers look to scale flat WALs in search of flexibility
The anticipation of a downturn in the credit cycle has made investors turn their attention toward document provisions that give CLO managers flexibility

Loan sell-off leaves some CLO warehouses out of the money
The December sell-off in the loan market may have been good for CLO equity but it left many warehouses out of the money, according to several sources

Payless bankruptcy steps on toes of CLOs
CLOs hold exposure to the debt of US retailer Payless ShoeSource, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week

CLOs are not like CDOs, says Barclays, but warns of loan quality impact
CLOs are far removed from the kinds of structured products that contributed to the 2008/09 global financial crisis, Barclays has argued in a wide-ranging research piece this week

CLO managers exposed as US mortgage lender files for bankruptcy
CLOs hold $164.9 million exposure to the debt of Ditech Holding Corporation, who refiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday 

CLO equity a "top trade" for 2019, but beware ratings risk, says JP Morgan
CLO equity is one of the top trades of 2019, according to research analysts at JP Morgan in a research paper published on Friday, noting that the asset class offers ‘sticky capital in a volatile cycle'

CLO spread tightening more likely than widening in Q1, says Wells Fargo research
CLO spreads are more likely to move tighter than wider in quarter 1 2019, despite the widening trend accelerating through December, according to Wells Fargo analysts

CLOs can survive defaults, but it could be death by triple Cs
Covenant deterioration in the leveraged loan market has caused sleepless nights for CLO managers who worry that when defaults start to rise, recovery rates will be lower than in past downturns. But market participants are expressing concern that ratings, rather than defaults, pose a greater risk to the market

The financial crisis was the making of 'em
Some of the largest and best performing CLO managers before the crisis were fairly nimble by today's standards - but these 1.0 outperformers are now among the biggest names in the industry. 

Pro Mach packs biggest punch for CLOs as lev loan index takes a tumble
 The US manufacturer's $819 million Term Loan B, due March 2025, dropped 0.76% on Monday from Friday’s close