Hot August sets tone for rest of 2025
Some European CLO managers still get time off in summer, but the days when the whole market shut down are long gone. So, in a busy year for CLOs, this August was the second busiest ever

Opportunity in CLO double B tranches
Given their low default rates, double B CLO tranches offer much higher coupons than might be expected — suggesting they offer some of the best risk/return trade-offs in all of fixed income

Triple C assets and capital preservation
In the US and Europe, better performing CLOs tend to hold fewer triple C assets. But even so, a third of top performing CLOs in the US have more than 6% of their assets in the triple C bucket.

Static deals stand out in Europe
European CLO equity in redeemed deals has delivered excellent returns. But managers might be surprised to discover that static deals are the region’s stars

CLO strategies outperform again
In 2023, our index of funds investing in CLO tranches and equity returned 22.9%. In the first six months of this year, the index reached 9.9%, as these funds again delivered outstanding results

European managers struggle to add alpha
Before the COVID pandemic, European CLOs comfortably outperformed the Morningstar European Euro-Denominated Loan Index. Since then, alpha has declined for many managers

Credit hedge funds
Credit hedge funds performance data

Credit funds at a glance
Fund performance, fund raising and LP commitments

Fund performance
A roundup of fund performance

CLO funds make best of a bad situation
It can’t get any worse can it? Well, it did in 2022, when credit spreads kept moving wider. Still, CLO funds were able to withstand the pressure, and they outperformed other credit strategies

Rope-a-dope brings knock-out returns
Post-pandemic US and European CLOs delivered mid-teen equity returns in 2022, despite a barrage of weak macroeconomic news and what could have been a heavyweight Libor mismatch  

Are we ready for another crisis?
Credit managers must brace themselves for stress in 2023, as rates rise and the number of poor performing assets increases. But most CLOs look well-placed and can rely on plump OC cushions 

Not every CLO can be a winner
The CLO industry has undeniably performed well enough to justify the plaudits it receives. But there will always be some unloved CLO tranches that slip into triple C territory

What matters is what you do with it
CLO managers yearn for flexibility so they can take advantage when credit sells off. But it isn’t enough on its own: triple C-flex CLOs saw portfolios erode this year, while CBOs outperformed

Arb work pays off
With day-one arbitrage alone delivering projected CLO cash-on-cash returns of 20-25%, 2021 may have been the best year ever for equity investors — at least until CLO spreads began to widen  

HY fund is exception to rule of CLOs
CLO funds have had back-to-back years of outperformance versus credit, proving the asset class is a great place to invest, rain or shine. But a Wasserstein HY fund was the star performer in 2021  

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

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?  

Still plenty more fish in the triple C

2020 CLOs find redemption is sweet
The believers have been vindicated with 2020 CLOs among the best-performing of all time by IRR. Even those that have been reset have been a success with par flushes making for huge equity distributions.

Coronavirus tiers up old ranking script
Forget everything you thought you knew about CLO manager tiers. Apollo and Blackstone are mainstays, but smaller, more nimble issuers are finding new ways to stand out from the crowd

CLOs come up smelling of roses
The coronavirus crisis could have cut back 10 years of CLO market progress, but investors’ foresight, trading chops and flexibility meant many saw their strategies blossom during 2020  

Moving fast pays off for hedge funds
2020 was an up and down year in credit, and credit hedge fund managers had to move quickly to capture opportunities from the dislocations that inevitably opened up

At least 2020 wasn’t dreadful for CLOs
Last year’s downturn was another in which CLOs survived and in many cases thrived as active management and Libor floors helped managers deliver 13%-plus returns to equity

CLO issuers flex their bond muscles
Some panellists at Creditflux’s US CLO Investor Summit pointed to structural difficulties, but the consensus was that flexibility — particularly the ability to buy bonds — could improve performance