OC health check: some CLOs cure failures, but quarter of US deals still in breach
117 deals failed over-collateralisation tests in the last week, although only 46 of these were deals reporting breaches for the first time, according to the latest reports available on CLO-i

Scale of coronavirus-linked defaults divides credit market
As governments and central banks around the world plough money into the economy in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the loan and CLO markets are nevertheless bracing themselves for a corporate downgrade wave to turn into a default cycle

Black Diamond multi-currency CLO looks to buy back senior debt at 98.75%
Black Diamond CLO 2015-1 is voluntarily offering to pay down its senior debt

US and Europe diverge on credit spreads and more
US and European corporate credit performance has diverged since cities went into lockdown in March, with Europe tending to do better. But the CLO market gives a different picture, with 17 US transactions pricing to four in Europe since 1 April, and with tighter investment grade spreads

Negative cash deal becomes first European CLO to fail OC test since sell off
260 US CLOs have failed an over-collateralisation test in the last two months and the first European CLO has breached a junior over-collateralistion since the credit sell off in March

CLOs look at flipping frequency switch as corporates hold cash
European CLOs could be set to flick their ‘frequency switch mechanisms’ as a growing number of corporations go from paying quarterly to semi-annual coupons

CLOs face trading restrictions as bankruptcies mount
CLO managers could be handcuffed in impending bankruptcies if tranche downgrades continue and restricted trading periods kick in

Libor fall weighs heavily on loan and CLO portfolios
Libor floors are set to return to prominence after three-month rates tumbled to 0.38% by 18 May, returning the loan market’s base rate to its lowest level since the oil and gas crisis of 2014-16

Cure contributions come into play in CLOs amid pandemic
Some CLO investors are triggering a mechanism in their deals that lets them inject additional equity into structures to prevent them from failing over-collateralisation or interest coverage tests

Early March European CLO makes it through the sell off with 5.4% risk retention
One of the last European CLOs to price before the primary market shut down in March has disclosed the fair value of its notes post-closing, which shows that it has a reasonable 38 basis point cushion against risk retention deficiency

Bond flex CLOs makes rapid MVOC recovery to underline evolution from CBOs
Bond flex CLOs, much like regular CLOs, are feeling the pain from March's sell off, but they have made a swift recovery

European CLO cushions fall with junior OC breaches expected soon, Fitch says
European CLOs have fared better against downgrades versus their US counterparts. But Fitch Ratings writes in a report that over-collateralisation (OC) cushions have been sharply declining with junior OC tests expected to be breached soon

Banks report billions in unrealised CLO losses
Some of the world's largest bank buyers of CLO tranches reported billions of dollars of gross unrealised losses in their their latest quarterly reports

ABS market holds strong as talf date approaches
The US Federal Reserve announced last week that the term ABS loan facility's first subscription date for loans backed by eligible asset-backed securities (ABS) will be 17 June, but before the Fed has even spent a dollar, talf has already been a success, says Tom Sweeney, co-head of structured credit finance at DWS Asset Management.

Fitch takes action on 29 European CLO tranches
Fitch Ratings took action on 29 European CLO tranches yesterday, placing the majority of these on rating watch negative

OC health check: US CLOs hit by new round of test failures
135 deals breached an over-collateralisation test last week, 78 for the first time, according to the latest trustee reports from CLO-i.

Akorn falls into bankruptcy with $321 million planted in CLOs
CLOs hold $321.3 million of specialty pharmaceutical company Akorn’s debt, according to the latest trustee reports from CLO-I, with the firm having filed for chapter 11 protection in the US District Court for the District of Delaware yesterday

Fair Oaks spends on junior European CLO debt after raising funds
Fair Oaks Capital has invested $92 million in junior CLO debt tranches since the start of April after putting to work fresh commitments to CLO investment fund Fair Oaks Limited

CLOs seek ways to work around warf restrictions
Corporate downgrades leading to par haircuts in CLOs have been a primary focus for CLO investors since the start of the coronavirus-induced crisis. But one of the side effects of rating actions has been a rise in weighted average rating factor test failures

$350 million of CLO collateral drips into default as oil companies file for Chapter 11
CLOs hold $353 million worth of debt of two oil and gas companies - Ultra Petroleum and Gavilan Resources - which have become the latest casulties of the precipituous decline in oil prices. The pair filed for chapter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Thursday and Saturday, respectively

Apollo and Barings defer equity payments on long-dated CLOs
Apollo Global Management and Barings have joined PGIM in deferring their scheduled April payment dates for a handful of European CLOs, according to the latest payment reports on CLO-i. Apollo also deferred payments on several of its US CLOs.

First Creditflux web panel discusses outlook for CLOs amid covid crisis
Panellists at the first ever Creditflux webinar conference on CLOs struck a balanced view on the outlook for their market, highlighting crucial differences between the crisis resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and the global financial crisis of 2008

PGIM defers April European CLO equity payments
PGIM has deferred scheduled April payments to equity investors of its European CLOs, the first European CLO manager to defer a payment date during the coronavirus pandemic

Beneath the triple C: April showers send buckets overboard
Downgrade waves rocked the CLO market in April as Moody's and Standard & Poor's downgraded 135 corporate borrowers to triple C or below, from ratings above that level. The downgrades put CLOs in rough waters as $41.6 billion of such loans are prevalent in US CLOs while €5.64 are moored in European CLO portfolios – affecting 5.92% of the US market and 4.37% of the European market

Waiting game pays off for European pension fund
Finnish pension fund Ilmarinen has been investing more in European CLO tranches after valuations dipped to their lowest levels in a decade, thanks to a distressed CLO fund strategy it put in place two years ago.