Investor wades into debate on whether CLO BB notes are literally underrated
The latest piece of thought-provoking research from Flat Rock Global broaches the thorny topic of structured credit ratings, asking “Are CLO BB Notes Investment Grade?”

November 2023 US Leveraged Highlights
Debtwire today releases the November 2023 US Leveraged Highlights, featuring key trends in the leveraged loan and high-yield bond markets

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

Manager tiering matters, but don’t rely on proxies like WAS or WARF
With manager tiering continuing to dominate CLO primary pricing levels we take a look at the 2021 vintage to see how much difference a manager really makes to deal performance

Large CLO managers outperform their smaller peers
Size does matter according to our latest research that finds that larger US CLO managers have consistently outperformed their smaller counterparts.

Secondary CLO prices continued to rise across June
US BWIC secondary prices continued to rise in June, according to a report by KopenTech. 

Slow pace of loan prepayments increasing CLO tranche WAL, finds Barclays
Prepayment rates in the leveraged loan market have dropped to post-financial crisis lows, thereby increasing CLO debt tranches' weighted average life and slowing the pace of amortization for deals that have left reinvestment, according to new research published by Barclays

Student loans emerge as headwind for loan market, says BofA
American graduates are poised to resume student loan repayments in August, and new research from Bank of America suggests the change could be a headwind for the loan market due to weaker consumer demand.

CLOs are our highest-conviction investment category, says Oaktree
Oaktree Capital Management has said that CLOs are the firm's 'highest-conviction investment category' in a credit market outlook study published on Thursday, despite the recent turbulence stemming from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

Investors should pair short CLO triple As with long MBS for best returns, says Janus Henderson
Senior figures at Janus Henderson Investors have recommended that credit investors should pair short duration CLO triple As with longer duration mortgage backed securities to optimise their returns, in a research article published on Tuesday

CLOs cheap to corporates but expensive to agency MBS, says BofA
CLO bonds are currently pricing cheap relative to corporates but look expensive relative to agency MBS bonds, according to new research from Bank of America

CLO bond buckets balloon post-Volcker amendments, says BofA
CLO holdings of bonds in their portfolios has grown to $15 billion in the two years since changes to the Volcker rule allowed CLOs to hold the assets, according to new research from Bank of America

US and European CLO metrics diverge, finds Barclays
CLO spreads saw a month-on-month move wider in December while key portfolio metrics such as weighted average rating factor (warf) and triple C buckets deteriorated in the US. However, European portfolio metrics showed some improvement 

CLO triple A tiering grew to 48bp by December, says PennMutual
The triple A spread differential between top and lower tier CLO managers widened to 48 basis points by the end of 2022 from just 18bp at the start of the year, according to new research published by PennMutual Asset Management

US CLO investors express cautious optimism for 2023
After a turbulent year in 2022, US CLO investors are sounding a cautiously bullish tone heading into 2023

BofA withdraws forecast for US banks to return to CLO investing en masse in 2023
Bank of America has withdrawn its forecast that US banks will make any signficant return to investing in CLOs in 2023 following comments from the Federal Reserve's vice chair for supervision suggesting that capital requirements could increase further next year

$90 billion gross CLO issuance in 2023 with manager base to shrink, says BofA
Bank of America is forecasting $90 billion gross issuance of CLOs in 2023, split between $80 billion backed by broadly syndicated loans and $10 billion backed by middle market assets

US CLO tranches had best month of year in November: Barclays
CLO debt investors enjoyed their best month of returns for 2022 in November, with triple As returning an annualised excess return of 12% and triple Bs returning 37% on the month

Euro CLOs have better 2023 entry point than US in $140 billion issuance year: Barclays
CLO performance and issuance may have to wait until the second half of next year for improvement, say Barclays credit strategists in a 2023 outlook piece. But Europe could fare better than the US given starting levels in a year the market faces some challenging regulatory hurdles

CLO double Bs offer attractive entry point despite likely loan downgrades, says Neuberger
CLO double Bs offer investors value despite the risk of deteriorating credit quality in the leveraged loan market

CLO triple As face contest with "appealing" US treasuries: Barclays
The challenge of issuing new CLOs has been put into sharper relief, with Barclays strategists arguing US treasuries look attractive versus triple A tranches

US CLO issuance to drop 15% in 2023: Barclays
US CLO new issuance is likely to be around $117 billion in 2023, a decline of around 15% on 2022

CLOs underperform recovery as central bank tone shifts: Barclays
CLOs have lagged the recovery in risk assets over the last week and remain at near year-to-date wides, according to research from Barclays. Strategists add CLO triple Bs look cheap versus high yield corporate bonds

Private equity firms are becoming CLO converts: TwentyFour
Private equity firms have increasingly bought CLO and other securitised debt tranches in recent weeks instead of their usual preference for physical assets - a trade TwentyFour believes "makes perfect sense"