Being fully invested can have a greater impact on IRRs than avoiding 2% defaults annually
The IRR differential can be as much as 3.3% for a fully invested CLO versus one that maintains a 5% cash balance

Spire scales heights as Creditflux’s Manager of the Year 2019
Spire Partners celebrated bringing home three Creditflux awards, including the coveted Manager of the Year trophy, on a night of high spirits on 8 May at London’s Landmark Hotel.

CLO pipeline: Black Diamond looks to brush itself off and jump back in ring after year out
Black Diamond Capital Management features twice in our CLO pipeline this week, as the firm is planning a return to both the European and the US CLO market.

Global b-wic round-up: Short-dated CLO paper hits the market
Last week brought over $800 million of b-wics listed in the US CLO secondary market for the first time this month, with around 10% being paper that had a reinvestment period that ended in 2019.

Ostrum appoints structured credit head as it looks to issue US CLOs
The market has found a plethora of CLO managers looking to expand in Europe, but Ostrum Asset Management has gone the other way by hiring an experienced US CLO portfolio manager

Global b-wic round-up: US CLO equity continues its surge
Last week marked the third straight week that the US CLO secondary market has seen total listings of under $600 million, but over a quarter of that was equity.

Spire wins Creditflux Manager of the Year award
Spire Partners was the big winner at Creditflux's Manager Awards last night as the London-based manager scooped the award for the manager of the year. On top of this, the firm picked up awards for Best European CLO Manager and Best European CLO for Aurium CLO II

Prospect's $500 million CLO fund merges with Stira Alcentra global credit fund
Prospect Capital Management’s $500 million closed-end CLO fund has officially merged with a global credit fund managed by Alcentra and Stira

Global CLO round-up: new managers put down roots
Birch Grove priced its debut CLO this week while relative newcomers PPM (in the US) and Voya Alternative Asset Management (Europe) grew their CLO AUM.

Capital raised for risk retention keeps struggling CLOs afloat
In a bid to turn struggling warehouses into CLOs, managers are prepared to take losses on funds raised for risk retention in order to issue new deals.

Index tranche levels spike as investors advance into equity
Trading of credit index tranches is picking up, with some $61 billion worth changing hands in the space during the first quarter, according to data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

Global b-wic round-up: secondary flows drop to $599 million in the US
Secondary CLO trading took a back-seat last week, with European market participants away Monday and the US focused on 10 primary market pricings 

Two CLO investors leave GSO in London
Two experienced CLO investors have parted ways with GSO Capital Partners in the last few weeks

The Last Tranche: awards season is upon us [podcast]
A look at 2018 award offerings and finalist, plus some insight on direct lending and b-wics

Jefferies subsidiary and Stonyrock plan mid-market alternative manager stake acquisitions
The new joint venture will invest in private equity, credit, hedge funds, real estate, venture, and infrastructure firms

Maryland pension carves out private debt bucket
The Baltimore pension fund has also mandated a total of $25 million to one direct lending fund and one distressed debt fund 

Global b-wic round-up: focus shifts to the wings of the capital structure
The secondary US CLO market looks to be rebounding after a slow end to the first quarter of 2019 with first-loss and first-pays drumming up attention

Loan trading round-up: CLO managers fall out of love with First Data
An analysis of loan trading among CLO managers in February shows that First Data is falling down the pecking order with managers selling $182 million of the company's loans

CLO pipeline: managers seek to return as others arrive, after testing Q1
With the first quarter of 2019 now in the books, the CLO market looks to be continuing where it left off.

Direct lending challenges in 2019: competition, lack of quality assets and high transaction multiples
Results from Proskauer Rose's survey show these are not putting off 75% of respondents, who are fundraising for a debt fund

Searchlight nears first close for $2.75 billion special situations fund
Searchlight Capital Partners is expecting to hold a first close for Searchlight Capital III April, according to documents seen by Creditflux

Church Pension Fund anoints infrastructure debt fund with $40 million
The $13.3 billion pension fund has invested in a fund managed by New Energy Capital

Bespoke gains pull CLO buyers as market tipped to hit $100bn
Synthetic bespoke issuance could catch up with the more visible CLO market this year, say structured credit specialists

CLO monoline businesses return with new purpose
CLO tranche insurance is making a comeback. Assured Guaranty has underwritten two middle market transactions, while in Europe various firms are testing the waters for this type of insurance, according to sources.

Moving on from the late 2018 hangover
It might be too early to call a full recovery, but it’s fair to say that the US loan market is back on track with $48 billion of institutional issuance in 2019 — 88% of which is made up of new issues