Global CLO b-wic round-up: spreads tighten across the board as bond-flex CLOs trade well
Price levels have tightened and, more importantly, stabilised across the secondary CLO market over the last two weeks, but the Easter break led to a drop off in CLO b-wic supply

Pimco promotes European HY head to global head of loans
Pimco has promoted David Forgash to head of global leveraged loans and has appointed ex-Deutsche Bank official Roman Kogan to its European commercial real estate team 

Neuberger Berman eyes $500 million fundraise for CLO opportunity fund
Neuberger Berman has become the latest manager to launch a CLO opportunity fund with the New York-headquartered manager looking to raise $500 million for the vehicle

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).

Former JP Morgan credit prop trader relaunches credit hedge fund
Palm Lane Partners is relaunching – two years after the credit hedge fund manager looked to spin out of JP Morgan Asset Management

Global CLO b-wic round-up: $8 billion of US CLOs listed in record-breaking March
Last week brought an end to the busiest month in both the US and European CLO secondary markets since at least 2014. $7.7 billion of US CLO paper was on sale in March with a further €1.8 billion of European CLO bonds available, bringing the total listed in Q1 to $13.9 billion and €3.6 billion

The opportunities to build par and spread within a CLO haven’t been this plentiful since 2009
Last year’s CLOs could become the benchmark for manager performance

European CLO triple Bs go from 99 to 73 in less than a month
European CLO mezzanine prices have fallen by almost 30 cents in less than a month, with a b-wic yesterday featuring a 2019 PGIM-managed CLO underlining the dramatic decline

Fair Oaks suspends dividends from listed CLO fund citing covid-19 uncertainty
Fair Oaks Capital has suspended dividends on its listed CLO fund “in light of the ongoing uncertainty in economies and markets caused by covid-19 pandemic”, according to an update to investors in the $315 million fund

Global CLO b-wic round-up: CLO triple As recover but mezz left behind
The CLO secondary market was a tale of two halves last week. 100% of all bonds listed in b-wics on Monday and Tuesday had no covers released (either traded or did not trade), but the end of the week was a different story for both markets

European CLO triple As bounce back in secondary market
European CLO triple As have begun tightening in the secondary market with sources indicating that by Friday, these notes were trading at 250 basis points, which is down from about 400bp a week ago

Fitch puts European and US CLO notes on negative watch after coronavirus stress test
Fitch Ratings has placed six notes from one European CLO, one US static CLO and one US middle market CLO on negative watch, following coronavirus-related stress tests placed last week 

Global CLO b-wic round-up: triple A volumes hit nine-year highs, but equity valuations could be "single digits"
Over $2.5 billion of US CLO paper listed in b-wics in last week's manic trading, with a further €435 million of European CLO bonds also on sale. CLO buyers and sellers turned to the safest part of the capital structure – the triple A rated notes – and away from its most illiquid asset class, with no equity bonds listed in either market

Credit hits new wides as US and Europe ramp up coronavirus battle plans
An emergency weekend rate cut by the US Federal Reserve as well as population lockdowns in France and Spain underscore that measures of economic risk have moved to a more systemic level as world governments scramble to deal with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak

Direct Lending Perspectives underlines record-breaking 2019 issuance
European direct lending volumes hit €18.2 billion in a record-breaking 2019, according to the European Direct Lending Perspectives report by Creditflux and Debtwire

Secondary CLO triple As slump below October levels
The secondary CLO market is showing no sign of stopping the rut with triple A rated paper in European and US markets displaying more weakness

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. 

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

Real assets are now the top picks in private credit
Direct lending is no longer the darling of the private credit market, with pension funds increasingly making space for credit strategies backed by real assets.

Lord Abbett preps floating rate interval fund with monthly share repurchase
Lord Abbett Enhanced Floating Rate Fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in floating rate products including senior secured or unsecured loans, second lien debt and floating rate structured credit including CLOs

Axa terminates $14 billion fixed income mandate with AB as it takes assets in-house
Axa has terminated a $14 billion taxable-fixed income investment mandate with AB

CLO pipeline: new loves kindle as managers finish with old flames
US new issue CLO paper is back on the agenda after a January dominated by refinancings. 14 new deals are in the pipeline, but refis are holding steady with eight of these in the works. CLO refinancings have been the front runners this year, with 22 CLO refis versus 12 new US CLOs. 

KKR closes $1.3 billion global impact fund
KKR has made a final close of its KKR Global Impact Fund SCSp at $1.3 billion  

CLO pipeline: make some noise for repricings
CLOs may be a bit late to the spread-tightening party, but a hoard of CLO repricings is aiming to make up for it by sheer volume

US CRE CLO growth spurt encourages Europeans
The US CRE CLO market hit a record $19.2 billion in 2019 and sources say that a first ever European deal will be issued this year. They cite the growing commercial mortgage direct lending market on the continent as laying the foundations for a European CRE CLO.