Banks predict record-breaking year ahead
Consensus figures generated from outlook reports by five banks suggest 2025 will be another strong year for CLO issuance. But last year, their estimates were well below the actual numbers

Rapid growth shows middle market CLO no longer BSL’s little brother
Middle market CLOs, the once niche sector that securitises private credit loans, is seeing a growth spurt. What was a junior partner to the much larger BSL world is now a sizeable entity of its own.

How many CLOs will be reset?
Tightening liability spreads aren’t just driving record new CLO issuance this year — they’re also triggering a wave of resets and refinancings in the US, especially for broadly syndicated CLOs

Banks predict steady year ahead
It’s the season for predictions and the CLO market is no exception, with all the banks having their say. We’ve rounded up their forecasts for new issuance and resets in the US and Europe

How worried should we be about defaults?
As defaults in the US loan market continue to stack up, we investigate the fallout for CLO investors by focusing on the OC tests of double B tranches across 10 years of US CLO vintages

European CLOs win out against US deals
Last month, our analysis explored the performance of US CLOs that were previously reset. We found that they delivered higher distributions than deals which weren’t reset, with the exception of the 2017 and 2018 vintages (Creditflux September 2023 — Do resets help CLOs perform better?). This article expands that analysis to the European market, and compares the performance of US BSL and EU CLO equity tranches.

Do resets help CLOs perform better?
As the market for CLO resets opens, we look at the performance of deals that were previously reset, and find they soon deliver higher distributions than those deals that were not reset

CLOs come up smelling of roses
The coronavirus crisis could have cut back 10 years of CLO market progress, but investors’ foresight, trading chops and flexibility meant many saw their strategies blossom during 2020  

Waiting for afters
Day one arb remains important, but last year there were opportunities aplenty in the secondary market, which put the onus on printing CLOs and waiting for the day after non-call periods expired

All’s well that ends well in 2020 OC tests
Swathes of CLOs failed over-collateralisation tests last year, but unlike the drawn-out recovery following the 2008 financial crisis, the return to compliance after the covid-19 crash was rapid 

Still weighed down by 2015 oil price slump
It’s three years since the depths of the oil crisis but offshore service companies — such as the helicopter businesses that transport workers to oil rigs — are not seeing lift-off in prices or profits

Evolving strategy takes Norinchukin close to top spot in CLO investment
Over the years, Nochu has tweaked its cov-lite stipulations, and added mid market and European CLO exposure to its CLO investments. It’s now nearly the market’s biggest investor  

Aircraft lessors: gathering clouds lead to talk of turbulence
Aircraft leasing companies have been cruising over the past two years as passenger numbers grew, but rising interest rates and trade tariff concerns are making some bondholders nervous

Tracking down the credit industry’s original winners
All winning managers at the first Creditflux awards survived the crisis, under their own names – like BlackRock – or under new owners. But what happened to the people who collected the trophies?
 

Tastes change in secondary trading
Our analysis of the secondary market shows that, since 2013, appetite for CLOs run by tier one managers persists through market dips and rallies.

Dedication pays off in risk sharing
Fund managers are pitching dedicated CRT funds to institutional investors as market hits €75 billion in 2017 and US banks start to take notice. By Sayed Kadiri

Drug makers: desperately seeking pain relief
With Teva’s profitable Copaxone being undermined by cheaper alternatives, the company is in need of a pick-me-up. By Euan Hagger

Synthetic CDOs seek to follow CLOs
Growing issuance, interest in longer maturities and the emergence of a secondary market are encouraging dealers to believe that bespokes are on the road to acceptance. By Sayed Kadiri

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

US pensions look beyond equities
US pension funds dramatically lowered their allocations to equity in the decade ending in 2016 as they diversified into illiquid and alternative assets. By Grace Jennings-Edquist

US power generators: Falling prices spark bankruptcies
As renewables and gas undercut traditional power generators, bond holders are preparing for price shocks. By Euan Hagger

Manager activity spreads across US
In 2016, there were 83 CLO managers active in the US; by the end of 2017 there were 121

Engineering and construction: diversification leads to deepening debt
In trying to build a more global roster of clients, some construction companies may have dug a hole for themselves

Direct lending leverage takes off
HPS, NXT and Crescent target mid market with leverage in Q4. By Grace Jennings-Edquist

Investors prefer direct lending to CLOs
For the first time in the history of Creditflux’s credit allocator survey, investors have voted direct lending the best investment in credit. CLOs came joint second. By Michelle D’souza