Loan index drops below 90 for first time since February 2016
The S&P/LSTA leveraged loan index dropped below 90 today as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the world's financial markets

Beneath the triple C: mighty CLO buckets from Akorns grow
Rating agencies went on a downgrading spree in February, with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s cutting 20 corporate names to triple C or below – affecting $2.78 billion of paper in US CLOs and €316.6 million in European CLOs. 

US CLO exposure to oil and gas is 2.6%, finds Barclays
Oil and gas exposure in CLOs is fairly limited, according to Barclays research, as crude oil prices drop to $33 per barrel, down from $41 on Friday

Bluestem bankruptcy hits $106 million of CLOs
CLOs hold $105.7 million of the debt of US retailer Bluestem which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, according to the latest trustee reports from CLO-i. 

Making arb work of it

Distressed exchanges offer pathways to recapture value that others are trying to take from CLOs
Volcker rule amendments could protect CLOs from losing out to distressed funds in a restructuring

Dispersion tests hedge fund managers

"We can have a positive impact by bringing diverse thinking to our business"
Edwin Wilches of PGIM takes our credit quiz

CLO managers don’t always prioritise profits

No hedges, but no problem for optimistic CLO investors
CLOs are prone to idiosyncratic risks, but investors have told Creditflux that they are confident about performance in 2020, despite the lack of hedging options. The general consensus is that some deals will suffer, but the vast majority will deliver after a disappointing end to 2019 for junior debt.

Credit funds at a glance
A round-up of fundraising and people moves in credit

Fund performance: CLO funds pick up where they left off
A round-up of fund performance

Fortress digests CraftWorks bankruptcy
CraftWorks Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday, with Fortress Investments holding all of the Tennessee restaurant operator's first lien debt - of which over half is in middle market CLOs. The New York-based firm has submitted a “stalking horse” bid to buy CraftWorks' assets

CLOs show coronavirus resistance even as bonds and loans suffer
CLO managers are - so far - looking defensively positioned in relation to the coronavirus outbreak, with only two of the five largest portfolio sectors listed as very negative in latest Wells Fargo research. But investor fears have all but closed the loan and bond primary pipeline, while lower rates signalled by the US Federal Reserve could spell a fall in leveraged loan and CLO demand

Making arb work of it
In 2019, some CLO managers hoped that good timing would enable them to lock in favourable arbitrage levels, but others opted for aggressive or conservative tactics when building portfolios. 

Post-reinvestment CLO hit by downgrade to Caa3 as warf rises
Moody’s has downgraded the F tranche of Halcyon Loan Advisors 2015-1, a 2015 vintage CLO managed by Bardin Hill Partners, to Caa3 from Caa2

European CLO managers with big bond buckets do best, finds Bank of America
European CLO managers that trade in the secondary market and hold a higher percentage of fixed rate assets are likely to outperform their peers, Bank of America finds in latest research

2016 MidOcean CLO suffers downgrade to triple C amid par losses
Moody’s has downgraded the junior-most debt tranche in MidOcean Credit CLO V to Caa1

CLO industry pushes back against NAIC's combo note proposals
A fight is brewing over the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ proposals to tighten regulations for insurers that buy purchase CLO combo notes

CLOs dock $100 million of Pier 1 as it plunges into Chapter 11
CLOs hold just over $100 million debt of Pier 1 Imports, which filed for voluntary Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia yesterday 

CLOs feel flat after housing $335 million of bankrupt RentPath
CLOs house $334.5 million of the debt of RentPath Holdings, which filed for Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Wednesday

Second TPG CLO tranche drops to triple C in just three weeks after Moody's downgrade
Moody’s has downgraded a second tranche of a CLO managed by TPG to Caa1 citing par loss

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

2020 will be about relative value, watching for idiosyncratic risk and a good deal of running away
Investors must embrace change — it’s time for structured credit investors to look beyond vanilla CLOs

Don’t be tempted by low debt costs — the key driver of performance in static CLOs is market timing