June loan rally signals asset class could see outsized returns as rates stay high
Leveraged loans enjoyed their second-best month of the year in June, with the asset class returning over 2% on the month as Creditflux goes to press. Loans have generated a return of 5.8% year-to-date, with only January’s 2.9% topping the numbers for June.

Loan Highlights 2Q23: Running aground
The global loan market endured a bleak first half of the year, with the overall 1H23 volume falling 28% year-on-year (YoY) to $1.9 trillion, the lowest showing since 2012.

May 2023 US Leveraged Highlights
Leveraged investors continue to favor bonds to loans, according to the Debtwire May 2023 US Leveraged Highlights, featuring key trends in the leveraged loan and high yield bond markets.

US loan default rates will peak near record levels, says Deutsche Bank
A new research paper from Deutsche Bank has forecast leveraged loan default rates rising to near all-time highs by the fourth quarter of 2024.

Fitch notches up US lev loan and HY 2023 default rate forecasts
Fitch Ratings has raised its US corporate institutional high yield bond default 2023 forecasts from 3%-3.5% to 4.5%-5%, and its leveraged loan default forecast from 2.5%-3% to 4%-4.5%

FCA greenlights synthetic Libor
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has given the go-ahead for ‘synthetic Libor’ as it creates a bridge for Libor contracts that do not have any hard-wired language referencing Sofr. 

UniCredit wraps up three synthetic securitisations with EIB backing
UniCredit says it has produced three synthetic securitisations which will free ithe bank up to lend over €5 billion to small and mid-sized enterprises in Italy, Germany and Bulgaria.

Alcentra co-CIO for liquid credit set to leave this month
A high profile figure in the US CLO business is leaving Alcentra

WTW to tackle lack of diversity across investment industry
Progress on diversity across the investment industry is “disappointingly slow”, according to research from Willis Towers Watson

Fund performance: CLO tranches move up
April returns managed a partial bounce back after a tumultuous March. 82% of funds listed in the Creditflux database made positive returns, showing at least small signs of recovery after 90% of all funds listed posted negative returns in March

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

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

US loan trading: McDermott downgrade leads to CLO outflows as managers board rail road firm
US freight railroads operator Genesee & Wyoming allocated its $2.55 billion term loan in November, making it the most popular issuer in the month. And CLO managers were sceptical of the outlook for McDermott Technology - signalled by $185.9 net outflows - after Moody's downgraded its corporate family rating from B3 to Caa2 

Schroders integrates ESG into corporate revolving credit facility
The firm is the first asset manager to convert its corporate revolving credit facility into an ESG-linked facility, it claims, and will link pricing to three ESG-related key performance indicators

Purdue Pharma bankruptcy highlights value of ESG analysis
Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy this week, and the sector wide concern over the US opioid epidemic, has highlighted the utility of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards in credit analyses

Prepayments pose reinvestment dilemma for CLO managers
CLO managers globally could be left sitting on piles of cash amid an uptick in loan prepayments. Standard & Poor’s reported that institutional US loan prepayments had hit $26 billion in July, and more recently some widely-held CLO names are set to return principal to lenders, with financial data provider Refinitiv US Holdings and Italian telecom operator Wind Tre taking this route.

Alcentra continues hot fundraising streak with new global credit offering
BNY Mellon subsidiary Alcentra has attracted $140 million for a corporate credit fund