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

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

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

Ares fined $1 million by SEC over 'misuse of non-public information'
Ares Management has been fined $1 million by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a settlement surrounding compliance failure relating to a portfolio company

Akorn falls into bankruptcy with $321 million planted in CLOs
CLOs hold $321.3 million of specialty pharmaceutical company Akorn’s debt, according to the latest trustee reports from CLO-I, with the firm having filed for chapter 11 protection in the US District Court for the District of Delaware yesterday

Louisiana pension commits $150 million to mezzanine and credit opportunities funds
Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana has awarded $150 million to two credit funds managed by Ares Management and Audax Group at its 7 May board meeting, a spokesperson for the pension has confirmed

Beneath the triple C: April showers send buckets overboard
Downgrade waves rocked the CLO market in April as Moody's and Standard & Poor's downgraded 135 corporate borrowers to triple C or below, from ratings above that level. The downgrades put CLOs in rough waters as $41.6 billion of such loans are prevalent in US CLOs while €5.64 are moored in European CLO portfolios – affecting 5.92% of the US market and 4.37% of the European market

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

Former Stifel loan trading head lands at Imperial
Imperial Capital Group has appointed the former head of loan trading at Stifel as a managing director and senior loan trader

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).

CLO warehouses trigger draw stops as loan market tanks
CLO warehouses are being put on ice due to ‘draw stop’ triggers, which have come into play as loan prices plunge.

S&P adds to CLO negative watch list as loan downgrades pick up
Standard & Poor’s has added to the list of tranches in CLOs it has on negative watch as coronavirus concerns mount. This follows the rating agency last week highlighting 22 tranches across 15 US CLOs for having big exposure to downgraded corporate borrowers across impacted industry sectors

CLOs pressured by sub-80 loan index as UBS predicts $550 billion of distress
CLOs were squeezed again today as the coronavirus selloff continues to hammer the loan market and UBS predicted many leveraged loans will become distressed

CLO new issues shut down as market digests fiscal stimulus measures
The CLO and loan pipelines have dried up as managers and investors shift their focus to trading, according to market sources

Loan index drops below 90 for first time since February 2016
The S&P/LSTA leveraged loan index dropped below 90 today as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the world's financial markets

Beneath the triple C: mighty CLO buckets from Akorns grow
Rating agencies went on a downgrading spree in February, with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s cutting 20 corporate names to triple C or below – affecting $2.78 billion of paper in US CLOs and €316.6 million in European CLOs. 

Loan market slump feeds into CLO pricing
The loan market opened this week 2-4 percentage points lower than last week, pushing it toward 90—a threshold it has not crossed since February 2016. CLOs have reacted to this rapid drop

Fed cut triggers Libor floors on third of US loans
Roughly a third of US loans effectively became fixed rate investments this week as Libor edged below 1% for the first time since January 2017

VIP Cinema makes uncomfortable viewing for CLOs as it's reeled into Chapter 11
CLOs hold $52.9 million of debt in seatmaker VIP Cinema Holdings, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the District of Delaware

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.

Clover bankruptcy leaves print marks on CLOs
CLOs hold $256 million of the debt of printing supply company Clover Technologies Group, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday

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

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)

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

CLO managers suffer puncture with $85 million of Jack Cooper debt
CLO managers hold $85.8 million of exposure to auto hauler Jack Cooper Ventures, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to the latest trustee reports from CLO-i