Sticking to first principles
When other credit hedge funds went long and levered, Brownstone Asset Management prospered by doing what a hedge fund should do.

Credit spotlight - Driven to destruction
Car production in the US and in Europe has plummeted –
and parts makers have been hit hard

Insolvency - Italy: bankrupts wind up in prison
Italian governments have introduced a range of procedures to avoid the difficulties of bankruptcy

Doing the right thing
Babson Capital is convinced that its fundamentals-based, long-term approach is the proper way to do business. It worked in the last cycle, and this is no time to look for short-term fixes. Facing their biggest test since the product emerged in the late 1990s, many CLO managers seem unsure how to confront an unprecedented decline in par values, soaring triple C buckets, rising defaults and the prospect of junior management fees being cut off. But the team that runs CLOs for one of the biggest and best established US managers has strong views about the right approach.

Plug in here for cash
Food, shelter and warmth: these basics are essential for human survival. As, it seems, is television. The fact that watching football and re-runs of Friends is not seen as a luxury by most people means that cable companies are weathering the recession better than many others. Many cable operators are increasing their earnings, their credit ratings are generally stable, and some have even seen ratings upgrades.

Brokers: Welcome to the new Street
Wall Street and Canary Wharf are dead. Full-service investment banks are broken. And credit sales people are flocking to a new tier of firms. Laura Jones meets the key players. Rarely has a great industry declined so fast. It was not just the demise of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers last year that marked the end of a particular age for the financial markets. It was also the dramatic fall in risk appetite at the remaining "bulge-bracket" firms and the wholesale exodus of staff.

A very messy default
A very messy default

Stanfield gets back to basics
Credit downturns are nothing new to Stanfield Capital – so it has been preparing for the coming default cycle for some time

Keeping out of trouble
Ian Hazelton is chief executive of Babson Capital Europe. He founded the business, then called Duke Street Capital Debt Management, in 2000 as part of the private equity firm Duke Street Capital. In 2004 Babson Capital, which is part of the MassMutual Group, bought the firm from Duke Street Capital.

It’s about leverage
For GSC’s US loan team, liquidity is nice. But what really matters is choosing low levered loans and working with the borrowers

In search of European distress
Most of the new breed of distressed credit funds are targeting mainly US assets. Tikehau sees opportunities closer to home

Tested by the storm
Cairn Capital’s experience in adverse conditions and its broad base of strategies could help it sail through the choppy waters ahead

Seeking alpha high and low
Swiss manager Alpstar is looking to capitaliseon sharp falls in valuations as distress deepens,particularly in leveraged credit. But it sees plenty of undervalued assets too.

Primus hungry for risk as spreads widen
Primus hungry for risk as spreads widen

The wild cat strikes early
To get a feel for the world of CDOs, according to Prudential M&G, one could do worse than look to its Panther series

Staying out of trouble by taking one deal in ten
Sohail Rasul is New York-based head of CDOs at triple-A rated financial guarantee company XL Capital Assurance

Opportunities to get close to a hedge fund
Many a CLO manager wants to be a hot-shot hedge fund manager. Credit opportunity funds offer a way to build a track record

Building CDOs on solid foundations
A disciplined credit approach and an incentive scheme that closely aligns manager and investor interests are among the factors that underpin BlackRock's CSO strategy

Diversify your risk - or make sure you're extremely nimble
Sean Rogister oversees fixed income investments at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada

CDO deal captains set sail for new waters
CDO deal captains set sail for new waters

The market where size matters
Who are the biggest cash CDO managers? It's an important question in a market where size brings advantages

Dynamic Credit: playing a model game
Whether reverse-engineering CDO investments or carving out deeply subordinated double-B pieces for its CDOs-squared, Dynamic Credit Partners has plenty of innovation to offer

Flying the derivatives flag
Solent Capital is one of the market's largest managers of synthetic CDOs and CDOs of ABS, and has a name that is synonymous with credit derivatives-based sophistication

2006 CDO league tables - synthetic CDO volumes explode
Synthetic CDO issuance doubled last year according to Creditflux Data+. The total notional of tranches traded was $450 billion – up from $224 billion in 2005. That rapid growth puts synthetic CDO volumes clearly ahead of the $414 billion of cash CDO issuance last year

The credit cycle has turned – but it’s a slow turn...
The credit cycle has turned – but it’s a slow turn...