AlbaCore expands with senior research hires
London-based AlbaCore Capital Group announced the expansion of its investment team last week, with the addition of a new Head of Research

Manager looks to cut HY exposures in CLO-heavy credit interval fund
A credit fund manager has provided a performance update on is multi-strategy closed-end credit fund through regulatory filings, revealing it has beat its benchmark from 1 April to 30 September despite losing 13.66%

CIFC boosts legal team with two senior appointments
CIFC Asset Management has announced two senior appointments on its legal and compliance team

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

LP round up: CLO fund included in whopping $13 billion of credit allocations in November
Credit took centre stage in November as investors allocated over $13 billion to credit funds in the month, with one pension allocating $50 million for a European CLO risk retention fund 

CLO PM set to leave PGIM ahead of move to London-based manager
A London-based mid-sized CLO manager has hired an official from PGIM 

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

Beneath the triple C: downgrade rate slows as $8 billion of CLO loans tumble
May offered some respite to CLO portfolios as corporate downgrades to triple C were reduced heavily - affecting just $6.67 billion of US CLO paper and €1.09 billion of European CLO portfolios

Frontier bankruptcy dials up pressure for 90 CLOs
Nine CLO managers hold $217 million of Frontier Communications’ debt across 90 CLOs, as the telecommunications company filed for Chapter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York

Beneath the triple C: $31.6 billion of CLO credits feel downgrade pain
March madness took a toll on CLOs as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s downgraded 4.25% of the portfolios in the US and 1.84% in Europe to triple C or below in just one month (some of these were already triple C rated, only to fall further).

Highland files for bankruptcy
Highland Capital Management filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware (Docket No. 19-12239)

Mizuho appoints US and European credit trading heads in leadership shake-up
The hires include a newly created CLO role, head of credit trading, and head of special situations and illiquid trading 

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

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

Alcentra hires former BlackRock US loan and CLO chief
Alcentra has announced the appointment of Leland Hart as managing director and head of US loans and high yield

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

Heading tighter into uncertainty
Tightening loan spreads are making the job of a CLO manager harder in both the US and Europe. But credit volatility could be on the horizon