Sculptor doubles global credit exposure in master fund amid dislocation
Sculptor Capital Management has doubled its global credit exposure in its Master Fund during the covid-19 volatility, according to the firm’s Q1 earnings call

CSOs are hurting but will emerge stronger, say sources
It is unsurprising that bespoke synthetic tranches have suffered during the covid-19 crisis, as they are backed largely by real money investors that have gone outright long credit risk. But more noteworthy and reassuring, say sources, is that most have held firm in their positions and look set to stick with the asset class — in contrast to the 2008 global financial crisis exodus

Correction: Orchard Liquid Credit Fund performance
In the May issue of the Creditflux magazine we incorrectly stated in our performance tables the year-to-date return for Orchard Liquid Credit Fund, which is up 10.66%

Structured credit fund loses 32.4% in March as junior US CLO debt slumps
Volta Finance’s net asset value dropped 32.4% in March, according to a monthly report released yesterday. US CLO debt was the weakest performer for the structured credit fund, managed by Axa Investment Managers, losing 41.3%.

Axa IM cancels Volta dividend due to CLO equity cash flow uncertainty
Axa Investment Managers has has cancelled the 28 April dividend payment to investors in its listed credit fund Volta Finance “in light of the ongoing uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic"

Structured credit dragged very wide — but CLOs stand to gain
Senior tranches of securitisations widened 220% in less than a month as the coronavirus pandemic has meant an increase in systemic risk — a sharp turnaround from the past few months when idiosyncratic risks were being cited as the main concern for structured credit investors.

Credit managers hunker down as idiosyncratic risks persist
A slew of earnings reports from credit managers and business development companies shows that deal-making and performance are robust, but great importance is being placed on credit selection.

Credit Rendezvous: the outlook in 2020 across a dozen segments of the credit market
Welcome to the Credit Rendezvous, the first instalment of a regular feature published by Creditflux that tracks credit market dynamics in a dozen segments from investment grade, liquid loans, CLOs and CSOs all the way through to distressed debt. We view this as the meeting point for credit specialists across strategies to share their perspectives

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.

Ucits at a glance
A round-up of ucits fund performance

Ellington finds Ucits success with mix of structured and synthetic
Fund managers are finding ample liquidity in the structured and synthetic credit market and this is helping them outperform in the Ucits fund universe.

GSO adds $10 billion to inflows with direct lending, structured credit and energy
Blackstone grew its credit assets under management to $139.3 billion, up 13% on a year ago, according to the firm's second quarter earnings release

Regulation stifles SRTs, but banks and investors revel in quarter-four outperformance
Over the course of 2018 there was roughly €6.5 billion of issuance in the market for significant risk transfer (SRT) deals, sources say, with the last three months understood to be the busiest quarter on record

Apollo's credit funds report gains in 2018 despite Q4 slump
Apollo saw $21.6 billion inflows throughout the quarter leading to a record total assets under management of $280.3 billion. The firm, however, reported a net loss throughout the quarter 

Structured credit specialists seek future-proofing in direct lending
At the turn of the last credit cycle, structured credit recovered spectacularly – but credit managers today seem to be gravitating towards private credit as the area to pick up excess returns in a downturn

Structured credit investors look beyond US RMBS
Re-remic, re-performing loans, non-performing loans and single family rental securitisations have come into favour as non-agency RMBS issuance dries up

Cheyne generates double-digit returns for hedge funds
Cheyne Capital has delivered with two credit hedge funds that have reached their maturity

Natixis AM reports $1 trillion AUM in 2017 results
Paris-headquartered Natixis has reported solid growth, and an end-of-2017 AUM of $1 trillion, for its asset and wealth management unit

Hildene makes huge 2017 gains after wringing every drop from 1.0 CLOs
For the most part, 1.0 CLOs are on their last legs with very few pre-crisis deals outstanding – but one fund manager has made hugely profitable trades in this area

Black Diamond credit hedge fund joins Creditflux listings
Black Diamond Credit Strategies Master Fund is the latest addition to Creditflux’s growing hedge fund listings

Prytania fund registers big gains after transitioning from CLO debt to equity
Prytania Investment Advisors has continued its impressive start to 2017