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

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.

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

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

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