Nuveen targets $500 million for 'pure play' talf fund
Nuveen is aiming to raise up to $500 million for a 'pure play' term asset backed loan strategy, Creditflux understands

SLC raises $500 million for talf fund
SLC Management, the asset management business of Sun Life Financial, has held a final close on a term asset-backed securities loan facility 2020 strategy at $500 million

US pension forms $100 million talf sub-committee as 'window of opportunities closing quickly'
Fresno County Employees Retirement System has formed an ad hoc committee authorised to commit up to $100 million to a term asset-backed securities loan facility strategy, according to an audio recording from its 5 May board meeting

Listed CLO fund rebounds in April with 5.7% gain
US and European CLO equity tranches brought in gains of 10% in April for the fund, US CLO debt 12.1%, ABS 0.6% and bank balance sheet transactions 0.3%

Magnetar wins $400 million for illiquid credit mandate
Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association has allocated $400 million to Illinois-based Magnetar Financial at its 13 May board of investment meeting, according to recently released minutes

US manager wins $250 million for talf managed account
Massachusetts Retirement Board has earmarked $250 million to a term asset backed facility managed account, according to documents seen by Creditflux

Four US pensions eye talf fund allocations
Four US pension funds are seeking proposals from investment managers to oversee term asset backed loan facility programmes, according to documents seen by Creditflux

Sculptor doubles global credit exposure in master fund amid dislocation
Sculptor Capital Management has doubled its global credit exposure in its Master Fund during the covid-19 volatility, according to the firm’s Q1 earnings call

CSOs are hurting but will emerge stronger, say sources
It is unsurprising that bespoke synthetic tranches have suffered during the covid-19 crisis, as they are backed largely by real money investors that have gone outright long credit risk. But more noteworthy and reassuring, say sources, is that most have held firm in their positions and look set to stick with the asset class — in contrast to the 2008 global financial crisis exodus

CDX HY and tranches hit as Whiting protection buyers win big pay-out
Whiting Petroleum CDS have settled at a final price of just seven cents, meaning a 93 cents pay-out to buyers of protection on the Denver headquartered exploration firm

Correction: Orchard Liquid Credit Fund performance
In the May issue of the Creditflux magazine we incorrectly stated in our performance tables the year-to-date return for Orchard Liquid Credit Fund, which is up 10.66%

OFS and CIM team up for fund geared towards loans, CLOs and real assets
Credit-related investments in the new interval fund will include floating and fixed rate loans, broadly syndicated senior secured corporate loans, CLO debt and equity tranches and opportunistic credit 

KKR deploys 10% of $2 billion coronavirus dislocation credit fund
KKR Credit has plans to launch a $2 billion dislocated corporate and asset backed credit fund to take advantage of coronavirus-induced volatility. And the New York-based manager has wasted no time swooping on opportunities after deploying $212 million by 9 April

Fidelity and Loomis Sayles win IG and securitised credit mandates
Fidelity Institutional Asset Management and Loomis Sayles have beat out the competition to manage Employees System of Rhode Island’s investment grade corporate credit and securitised credit plans

Fed to publish information on borrowers making use of the talf programme
The US Federal Reserve will disclose information about borrowers making use of its emergency facilities

SEC proposes new fund valuation framework
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed a new framework for funds to determine fair value for assets for which market quotations are not readily available, which it says will "improve valuation practices and thereby protecting investors and improving market efficiency, integrity and fairness"

US pension gains 6.5% in three days after putting $350 million into credit
Marathon, Waterfall, ArrowMark and Columbia were allocated $350 million from a US pension for structured credit, Talf and high yield mandates

Global Atlantic appoints head of credit after hiring from hedge fund manager
Global Atlantic has filled the void in its credit investment division

Frontier triggers credit event but HY equity tranches outperform
Frontier Communications has triggered a bankruptcy credit event, the Americas Determinations Committee has confirmed. This is the fourth credit event to hit recently off-the-run index CDX HY series 33, on which on-the-run index tranches are based and for which recoveries have so far been very low

Structured credit fund loses 32.4% in March as junior US CLO debt slumps
Volta Finance’s net asset value dropped 32.4% in March, according to a monthly report released yesterday. US CLO debt was the weakest performer for the structured credit fund, managed by Axa Investment Managers, losing 41.3%.

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

Axa IM cancels Volta dividend due to CLO equity cash flow uncertainty
Axa Investment Managers has has cancelled the 28 April dividend payment to investors in its listed credit fund Volta Finance “in light of the ongoing uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic"

Short-dated CSOs touted as jump-to-default risk hits curves
The coronavirus outbreak has all but vanquished hopes of any regular CSO business getting done, but sources say bespoke portfolios of short-dated CDS could soon be in the offing as investors look to express a view on when the crisis will end.

Structured credit dragged very wide — but CLOs stand to gain
Senior tranches of securitisations widened 220% in less than a month as the coronavirus pandemic has meant an increase in systemic risk — a sharp turnaround from the past few months when idiosyncratic risks were being cited as the main concern for structured credit investors.

High yield index widening drives equity tranche trades
The blow-out in corporate credit spreads is creating opportunities in the index tranche market.