Alecta "closes the circle" as it invests with PGGM in Nordea SRT
Joint venture partners Alecta and PGGM Investments have printed a €2.5 billion significiant risk transfer with Nordea in what marks the first Simple, Transparent and Standardised-compliant SRT to reference pan-Nordic assets

Credit Rendezvous: the upside of inflation
It is clear, inflation is not transitory and central banks are acting with several interest rate hikes likely in store for the US this year. That makes loans and CLO debt tranches attractive, but there could be opportunities beyond these floating rate assets

Intriva adds to asset management build up with senior hire
Intriva Capital, a mid-market lender and alternative investment firm, has hired a senior asset manager from HIG Capital

Credit fundraising: managers build homes for real estate credit funds
The “largest ever real estate credit fund” was one of the fundraising highlights last month as Blackstone’s Real Estate Debt Strategies IV fund reached $8 billion on its final close

LP round up: $5 billion flows to credit as private market allocations increase
Global institutional investors allocated nearly $5 billion to credit funds this week, according to documents seen by Creditflux

LP round up: managers keep fundraising hopes high as GSO targets $7.5 billion for mezz offering
Institutional investors allocated $1.6 billion into credit this week, according to documents seen by Creditflux

Libor fall weighs heavily on loan and CLO portfolios
Libor floors are set to return to prominence after three-month rates tumbled to 0.38% by 18 May, returning the loan market’s base rate to its lowest level since the oil and gas crisis of 2014-16

Pimco plans to outperform come rain or shine with $4.5bn all-weather fund
Pimco has become the latest manager to fashion a flexible, all weather credit fund that invests across public and private markets, geographies and capital structures. The Newport Beach-based manager is hoping to raise $3 billion for the strategy. With half a turn of leverage, it could have up to $4.5 billion to deploy.

EQT undertakes strategic review of credit business
EQT has announced a review of its credit business with the firm appointing JP Morgan to evaluate its 'strategic options', according to the firm’s Q4 2019 report

Azimut hires ex-Dyal official as it aims to buy minority equity in asset managers
Azimut will initially focus on acquiring minority stakes in alternative asset managers with under $3 billion AUM – including private credit, private equity, infrastructure and real estate firms

Europe and US diverge on covenant lite structures
Direct lending is syphoning away traditional loan supply

KKR promotes three European credit specialists to managing directors
KKR has promoted several members of its team to managing directors - including a former US CLO portfolio manager

Blackstone builds on multi-asset approach with fifth fund
The new vehicle will invest directly into Blackstone deals across its alternatives platform

Neuberger's Dyal acquires minority stake in HPS
Dyal Partners, a division of Neuberger Berman, has acquired a minority equity stake in global credit manager HPS Investment Partners

UK funds brace themselves against value-for-money ruling
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its final set of fund governance rules that aim to strengthen the duty of authorised fund managers to their investors.

Zencap looks to raise €200 million for its third infra debt fund
French alternative investment boutique Zencap Asset Management is launching its third senior infra debt fund with a €200 million first close target, the firm announced on Friday.

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

Former ICG credit head Kershaw takes advisory role at distressed debt firm
Dagmar Kent Kershaw, the former head of Intermediate Capital Group's credit fund businessin Europe and Australia, has landed an advisory role at a $7 billion distressed debt manager

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

Things aren’t always what they seem
Buy CLO triple As but don’t be fooled by diversity scores; take a look at credit index futures if you need liquidity; and watch out for quasi-mid market loans appearing in CLOs

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