Fitch lowers US loan default rates for 2021 and 2022
The rating agency has $200.9 billion of ‘market concern loans’ on its radar, saying these have declined in volume for the 12^th month straight but are still up 16% from pre-pandemic.

S&P lowers default rate forecast for US loan index
S&P Global Ratings has revised down its leveraged loan default rate forecast for the end of the year, based on the S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Index, from 3.5% to 2.75%

BofA reveals top CLO managers through covid by market value and distributions
Bank of America's research desk has highlighted eight CLO managers with the best performance statistics through the covid-19 crisis, based on market value change and interest distributions

Beneath the triple C: CLOs benefit as upgrades make for lighter triple C buckets
For the first time since the sell off in March last year, downgrades to triple C have come to a near-standstill

Creditflux and Debtwire unveil CLO stressed and distressed market analysis
The first edition of the CLO Distressed Roundup, a joint-report by Creditflux and Debtwire, takes a deep dive into the distressed and stressed loans held by CLOs as of December. Our report shows CLO portfolios are 10.2% stressed and 4.17% distressed, lower than not only the nadir of the pandemic in May, but also before the pandemic

US banks embrace CLOs again to drive spread compression
The three big US bank-buyers of senior CLO tranches — Citi, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo — all returned to the mar-ket as investors in January after sitting out for much of 2020

CLO managers face ramping challenges as inflation risk rises
A mix of inflation worries and pandemic uncer-tainty is pushing up loan prices and causing CLO managers to struggle to construct new portfolios

US and European control CLO positions land in secondary market
The first control equity positions of 2021 for the European and US CLO markets were listed in the secondary market on Thursday

OC health check: CLOs end 2020 with fragile recovery
Only 109 CLOs breached an overcollateralisation test in December, falling from 121 in November. This in turn was down from the 147 CLOs that breached an OC test in October, but 33 cured their breaches in November and a further 11 cured all OC test failures in December

Prophet ends 2020 on high with new-look structured credit platform
Prophet Capital has revamped the liquidity profile of its structured credit platform after restructuring its CLO and structured credit hedge fund, which it gated back in March amid the market sell-off. The fund manager managed to grow assets under management after 2020's rocky start

Eagle Point makes large investment in rival's CLO fund
Eagle Point Credit Management has made a large investment in the preferred stock in a competitor's publicly traded CLO fund

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

Moody's begins upgrading CLO tranches
Moody's began the gradual process of upgrading CLO tranches in December, ending on a more positive note a year which brought the biggest wave of tranche downgrades

CLO 2021 outlook: back to the 'old' normal with volumes, spreads and structures to revert to pre-covid levels
Predictions went out the window this year because, well, who in December 2019 could have foreseen a pandemic devastating lives and wrecking financial markets? But the emergence of vaccines to combat the threat of the coronavirus has spurred a rally in credit over the last month. And CLO researchers expect a resurgence in 2021 with US new issue CLO volumes predicted to hit the $80-110 billion range, according to reports analysed by Creditflux.

Vaccine boosts credit as PE firms open up to bridge loans
The leveraged loan and CLO markets ended 2020 on a long-awaited high after multiple vaccines for covid-19 were rubber-stamped by regulators

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

All’s well that ends well in 2020 OC tests

Moody's considers upgrading 188 US CLO tranches
Moody's has put 188 CLO tranches from 114 US CLOs on review for possible upgrade, reversing an earlier policy in which the agency put large quantities of CLO notes on downgrade watch

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

York axes European hedge funds and prioritises long duration assets as co-CIO leaves
York Capital Management has opted to axe its European hedge fund strategies and refocus on alternatives including CLOs amid a string of executive personnel changes

OC health check: 41 CLOs heal their breaches
147 CLOs breached an over-collateralisation test in October, down from 183 in September. 41 CLOs that breached an OC test in September passed all OC tests in October, most of which had October payment dates

Eagle Point bulks up on CLO equity
Eagle Point Credit Company deployed $35.1 million of its capital into CLO equity investments in the third quarter, buying $8.4 million in the secondary market and the remainder in primary, while selling just $4.8 million

Correction: JP Morgan shifts bulk of CLO portfolio to held to maturity
JP Morgan has shifted two thirds of its CLO portfolio to the 'held to maturity' part of its balance sheet, posting $31.15 billion worth of CLO holdings on 30 September of which $20.95 billion were held to maturity

Relative value has shifted towards CLO double Bs, conference hears
CLO double B tranches are on course for significant spread tightening, according to participants on day one of Creditflux's CLO Investor Summit on Thursday

Fed again warns of CLO risks as senior and junior spreads split
The Federal Reserve's latest financial stability report again warns of risks in CLO structures amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic