Fund performance: Wasserstein's early 2021 performance drives it to the top
The final top 10 of 2021 featured a variety of funds as five different strategies were ranked among the best. US high yield was the most highly represented with two BlackRock funds and an Angel Oak in the top 10

Ucits at a glance: Robus claims top spot in 2021 after tight race
Ucits funds have ended 2021 on a high as 62% made positive returns in December

I’ll see your 2020 and raise you 2021
Discounted loans, Libor floors and bond flexibility helped make 2021 an even better year for CLO returns than 2020, as US CLOs distributed 15.54% and European CLOs paid 13.93% annualised

Lakemore lauds greater control afforded by supermajority CLO equity strategy
Lakemore Partners has shed more light on its supermajority CLO equity investment strategy through a roundtable discussion with Maples Group    

"We again have to flag up information in CLO marketing pitches that can mislead investors"
Cash-on-cash returns, default records and leverage statistics don’t always give CLO investors the full picture  

A fresh approach to loss distribution
Considering how cash balances change over time, loss distribution models can look very different to conventional thinking. So is your CLO’s pricing based on incorrect assumptions?  

SME CLO supremo leaves Be-Spoke for expanding Spanish firm
One of the pioneers behind SME CLOs has left Be-Spoke Capital to join another Spanish lender. He leaves behind the only SME CLO in Europe since the 2008 financial crisis  

Fund performance: CLO funds deliver again, but third of all funds post losses
CLO funds took six of the top 10 spots in October in a continuation of the previous month’s strong performances. However, a consistent showing from Wasserstein in the US high yield category has claimed the top spot for the last two months

Credit hedge funds (January 2022)
Credit hedge fund returns

Ucits at a glance: Robus and Altana dip but stay at the top
In October, Ucits funds continued a slide that had begun the previous month with 60% of them in the red

CLO funds shine amid the gloom with unmatched returns
Credit funds stumbled in October, with European high yield, emerging markets and long-short strategies the weakest performers, according to Creditflux data, as several funds in these categories suffered losses

Past returns: KKR’s unusual CLO liquidation
Five years ago in Creditflux, we reported that junior debt investors in a KKR-managed European CLO voted to alter the deal’s documentation so they could drive a liquidation of the legacy deal, such that they would receive roughly 92% of par

CLO pricing holds up against omicron as liquid credit takes a hammering
Being illiquid sometimes has its advantages, with the CLO market the picture of serenity as CDS swings imply volatility is afoot

The Last Tranche with Napier Park's Secmen: tailwinds fuelling CLO market mask manager incompetence
In this episode of the Last Tranche, Serhan Secmen, head of US CLO investments at Napier Park Global Capital, joins to discuss how equity investors choose which managers to allocate to for the best long-term performance

Treasury desk lists $818 million b-wic as hedge fund looks to offload control CLO equity in bumper day
State Street once again listed over $800 million of US CLO triple A bonds on Tuesday, having sold $834 million of triple A paper last month

Amherst Pierpont takes total return approach as it builds CLO analytics platform
Amherst Pierpont is making CLO analysis the focal point of a push into the asset class, with the brokerage creating a platform that looks at the alpha and beta generated by a CLO manager, as well as their pricing on CLO liabilities.

Fund performance: Dominant CLO funds look to end the year with 20%-plus gains
Once again the Creditflux hedge fund top 10 is dominated by CLO funds, with seven funds among the best performers in September.

Credit hedge funds (November 2021)
Credit hedge fund returns

Ucits at a glance: Robus and Altana enter the final sprint neck and neck
A downward turn hit Ucits funds as 65% of them made positive returns in September,

Niche credit funds make mid-market flexibility count
Funds that have the flexibility to invest in mid-cap debt issuers prospered in September, amid the usual swarm of outperforming CLO funds

Global CLO trading lab: bank sells $834 million triple As in quarterly reallocation as hedge fund trades CLO equity
Thursday’s secondary CLO market was the busiest of 2021, with over $1 billion of US CLOs on offer. This featured an enormous b-wic worth $834.3 million, where sources have told Creditflux of the bank behind the aucton. While a large credit hedge fund is said to have sold out of control CLO equity 

Three control CLO equity blocks trade, including rare CIFC deal with ultra-low funding costs
Three US CLO anchor equity positions traded Tuesday courtesy of one b-wic at 9.30am New York time

Zais CLO reset prices wide of market, but strong portfolio boosts junior tranches
Zais Group has followed up its new issue CLO last month by resetting a 2020 CLO, sources say. Just like Zais CLO 17, the reset Zais 16 was arranged by Jefferies, and again priced substantially wide of market averages. However, the junior notes priced in line with, and at times tighter than, Zais 17 – perhaps reflecting the strong positioning of Zais 16’s portfolio.

CLO Census latest: banks in tight race, 51% optimistic on Sofr and large managers viewed as outperformers
More than 100 CLO market participants have already cast their vote in the most tightly-contested Creditflux CLO Census ever with a single vote separating the top three banks at US and European CLO execution. Meanwhile, most voters are unworried by the Sofr migration and BlackRock, CSAM, CIFC and PGIM are among the CLO managers viewed as having outperformed following the covid crash. Click here to vote: CreditfluxCLOCensus2021

US insurers’ CLO investments pose “insignificant risk”, NAIC reports
US insurer’s investments in CLOs remains an “insignificant risk”. That’s according to a report released last week by the National Association of Insurance Companies entitled Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) – Stress Testing U.S. Insurers’ Year-End 2020 Exposure