Credit funds at a glance

A round-up of fundraising and people moves in credit

CLOs at a glance
Managers focus on AUM building via new issues

Fund performance
Long-short and high yield keep up the momentum

Moving on from the late 2018 hangover
It might be too early to call a full recovery, but it’s fair to say that the US loan market is back on track with $48 billion of institutional issuance in 2019 — 88% of which is made up of new issues

We can’t hide it any longer, we’re tiering up
With the opening months of 2019 highlighting a clear class system among CLO managers, there has never been a better time to assess tiering. We find that timing, patience and luck all play a role

It’s going to be a credit picker’s market
Our panel of experts believe that the credit market will be volatile this year, but there will be opportunities in European credit and additional tier one bonds, trups CDOs and unitranches

The financial crisis was the making of ’em
Some of the largest and best performing CLO managers before the crisis were fairly nimble by today’s standards — but these 1.0 outperformers are now among the biggest names in the industry

Buy and hold isn’t only option for CLO equity
New US CLO equity is being more regularly flipped into b-wics. Figures suggest that equity pieces of 2017 and 2018 US deals made up 22% of the b-wic market over the past four quarters

August: fund performance
CLO spreads jumped wider in August, but funds that invest in these assets have been able to outperform

September: credit funds at a glance
White Oak Global Advisors held a $2.1 billion final close on a new direct lending fund, while Phil Raciti's move from CVC Credit Partners to Halcyon Capital Management was one of the biggest moves in the credit industry

Wide CLO pricing need not be a drag
Established managers can price CLO liabilities at attractive levels, but we find that CLOs saddled with higher financing costs have nevertheless been among the market’s outstanding performers

Weighted average life divides CLO industry
Creditflux’s second CLO Census reveals stark differences of opinion on weighted average life and par-flush for US CLOs. But there is a clear consensus on which bank is best at CLO execution

Experienced CSAM holds off boutiques to win biggest prize
Credit Suisse Asset Management became a two-time winner of the Creditflux Manager of the Year award last month after picking up the 2018 trophy in front of a packed house at London’s Landmark Hotel on 9 May

CLO performance is faltering – a loans shock would help
Early CLO 2.0s benefited from wide loan spreads. Today, that arbitrage opportunity has closed and returns have gradually diminished – yet there are now similarities to the market in 2007

CLOs aren’t as similar as you might think
Almost 70% of some managers’ portfolios overlap with those of their competitors. But the average overlap is around 35% so there’s plenty of room for managers to express their preferred strategies
 

Tracking down the credit industry’s original winners
All winning managers at the first Creditflux awards survived the crisis, under their own names – like BlackRock – or under new owners. But what happened to the people who collected the trophies?
 

Managers predict skill will win out
We asked managers to predict the year ahead across a range of credit strategies. Overall, they had a positive outlook. By Grace Jennings-Edquist

Who predicted $145 billion of issuance?
That went better than expected: US risk retention came in, and $145 billion of global new issuance later, it’s clear that CLOs aren’t disappearing. By Tanvi Gupta and Sam Robinson

CLO managers return to new issues
The frenetic pace of refis and resets slowed in the third quarter as CLO managers – new and old – turned their attention to building assets

Finding horizontal and vertical angles
2017 CLOs where managers hold a vertical strip have higher spread portfolios and higher leverage than those with a horizontal risk retention investment. By Tanvi Gupta

CLO boom encourages new ideas
Volumes are up, spreads are down and risk retention is a doddle. That must mean it’s time to push the boat out and innovate

Leading fund: Lupus Alpha CLO Opportunity Notes I
Single-B CLO trades boost Lupus Alpha asset Management

Investing ethically is worth it
Managers could see less volatile returns as a result of their increasing adoption of ESG-friendly portfolios; meanwhile direct lending is spreading across Europe

Who cares about risk retention?
Managers watching CLO spreads reach their tightest levels since the crisis had little time to fret about US risk retention

Boutique CLO managers boss secondary market
Creditflux analysis shows that, when their total assets are taken into account, small managers' CLOs are more liquid than those of large managers