Blackstone hires Laura Coady from Jefferies to head CLO business
The alternative asset manager has poached Jefferies's top CLO banker to become its global head of CLOs and head its European liquid credit strategies

US pensions' push into European private credit involves local expertise pursuit, mid-market strategy differentiation
The European credit market is expected to benefit from recent fiscal stimulus announcements and lower primary tariff impact, while mid-sized managers are likely to see growing demand for differentiated strategies

Mapping the present and future of credit
Keynote speakers at this year’s Creditflux Symposium highlighted the success of credit markets during recent volatility and argued that a wave of securitisation could drive growth in Europe

The market will not look kindly on managers that don’t reset their deals
In today’s CLO market, the choice is stark: reset or slowly perish

US pensions increasingly eye European private credit amid expanding allocations, diversification pressures
US public pensions have committed at least USD 4.4bn to European private credit strategies since July 2024  

US CLO spreads to widen as uncertainty and tariffs bite – JPMorgan
Higher US tariff levels may lead to CLO spreads widening and pressure US CLO market growth, but new origination has been more resilient than expected, according to JPMorgan analysts in their mid-year CLO outlook report

Credit markets have become more stable and behave differently – KKR’s Eddie O’Neill
PODCAST: The co-head of global liquid credit at KKR sees opportunities and reasons for optimism after the recent market upheaval, especially in Europe and Asia in the latest "Credit Exchange with Lisa Lee" podcast

Former Platinum Credit MD joins multi-manager platform Schonfeld
Jordan Stevens previously served as a senior credit deal lead for Platinum Equity’s private credit platform

Tariffs will push up default rates for several years, say agencies and managers
After an uptick in leveraged loan defaults culled weaker credits in 2024, many expected default rates to fall in 2025. But the uncertainty stemming from the Trump administration’s tariffs means those assumptions are now under threat

News in brief
Blackstone plays offense amid volatility

Are unusual deals from Clearlake and JPMorgan signs of things to come?
Deals that would have gone to public markets switched to private credit

CLOs that refinanced in 2024 are set to take advantage of market turbulence
There are opportunities for CLOs to build par through discounted purchases

Clearlake launches Clearlake Credit to chase private and public credit investments
The new platform will integrate the newly acquired MV Credit and WhiteStar Asset Management

CLO Symposium 2025
The Creditflux CLO Symposium will be held at the Nobu Hotel, London on 14-15 May 2025

Dechert adds Paul Hastings partner to bolster private credit, CLO biz
Brian Whaley will bring his experience in private credit, securitization and structured products to the global finance group

More volatility, more uncertainty and more tailwind for private credit – KKR’s Dan Pietrzak
PODCAST: The new Trump administration in the US has introduced new uncertainty with its preparedness to employ wide-reaching tariffs, and M&A volumes remain depressed, but KKR’s private credit team is busier than it has been in the past few years. 

PAG raises USD 1.25bn for significant risk transfers
The Hong Kong-based alternative asset manager is expecting the SRT market to grow at a 30% to 40% rate annually over the next few years

Marathon ditches distressed strategy to raise USD 2.7bn for opportunistic credit
EXCLUSIVE: The asset manager originally launched the fund with a distressed debt strategy but has since switched the focus to making opportunistic private credit and equity investments  

Records tumble in fantastic February

Fund performance - February 2025
Structured finance leads, but all indices stay positive as 2025 begins

Hamza Lemssouguer’s Arini aims to become a new US CLO manager
EXCLUSIVE: The European hedge fund has hired Goldman Sachs as arranger for its first US deal 

Alcentra raises over USD 1bn to invest in third-party as well as own CLOs
The funding will invest in CLO mezz and equity through the firm’s third-party CLO tranche investing platform and for its own issuance in Europe

February global CLO issuance on track to beat 2021 record
Monthly global CLO issuance has passed the 100-deal mark in February, with a week of dealmaking still to go