Carlyle prices its first new CLO for 2026
The USD 505m Carlyle CLO 2026-1 priced its senior triple A notes at SOFR plus 116bps

New loan shop Mountain Point becomes 2026’s first debut US CLO manager
The recently-launched credit manager priced its first CLO via Bank of America as a USD 507m BSL issue

First Brands adequate protection fight with Evolution yields appellate court ruling friendly to allegedly secured lenders – Legal Analysis
District Court remands dispute back to Bankruptcy Court for further findings and corrected analysis; District Court sets precedent for Chapter 11 cases in Southern District of Texas that prima facie showing of security interest entitles creditors to adequate protection

First Brands Group extends mediation period through 27 February
Multiple complaints filed, alleging duplicate factoring and insider transactions; examiner investigates factoring activity and related transfers

Software sell-off leads to improved CLO equity arb – BNPP
BNP Paribas is currently bullish on H2 2024 CLO equity in the US, largely due to its low NAV and low software exposure

US CLO AAAs tighten to 12-month tight as Oak Hill Advisors prices new deal at 113bps
The mark is the tightest since the same manager priced OHA Credit Funding 20 with triple As at 110bps over the base rate on 28 February last year

Early 2026 US CLO equity data does not point to improved performance over 2025 – Deutsche Bank
The median quarterly distribution for US CLO equity in 1Q across all deals reporting fell to 2.4%, the lowest number in three years and the seventh consecutive quarterly decline, according to new research from the bank

Whitebox Advisors readies captive CLO equity fund
EXCLUSIVE: The CLO manager is in talks with prospective anchor investors for a new fund that will help the firm issue new CLOs by investing in the equity and providing warehouse financing, a source familiar told Creditflux

Janus launches higher risk-return CLO ETF for institutional investors
The new CLO ETF will focus on investing in AA to A CLO tranches and will offer a slightly higher target return than the firm’s flagship AAA CLO ETF product

Software selloff hits CLO equity, BB MVOCs – Barclays
The percentage of US loans trading above par has tumbled to 27%, introducing mark-to-market risk for CLO tranche investors

US BSL CLO rankings – January 2026
It’s early days in the new year, but there’s a surprise in Creditflux’s US BSL league table rankings for January, with SMBC Nikko claiming second spot in the arranger table

BSP is latest to issue US CLO AAAs at 115bps, as New Mountain and CQS also price new deals
Benefit Street Partners issued its second new US CLO of the year, with Bank of America arranging the USD 502.6m transaction

US private credit CLO rankings – January 2026
January saw a tentative start to the year for US private credit CLO issuance, with Blue Owl and JPMorgan heading Creditflux's manager and arranger league tables respectively last month

New Antares US BSL CLO prices AAAs at 115bps
Antares has matched the existing new-issue tight for US BSL CLOs with its latest print, Orion CLO 2026-7, priced via SMBC Nikko

Abry plans programmatic BSL CLO issuance, eyeing expansion to private credit CLOs
EXCLUSIVE: The alternative investment firm, which made its debut last year, is planning for two to three CLOs for 2026

Private credit manager Varagon prices second CLO
Arranged by BNP Paribas, the USD 592m MDL Structured Notes II is the manager’s first CLO issue since its market debut in October 2024

More than USD 2bn of new US BSL CLO paper prices on a busy Thursday
Blackstone issued a sizeable USD 710m BSL CLO that matched the current triple-A market tight for new US issues, on a busy Thursday that also saw fresh BSL deals price from Aristotle Pacific, MidOcean, and Elmwood

Investcorp, Garnet, UBS, and CTM price new US CLOs
New US BSL CLO issues this week from Investcorp, Garnet, UBS, and CTM Asset Management totalled USD 1.86bn in value

Diameter prices its first private credit CLO
Arranged by Morgan Stanley, the USD 400m issue priced its senior triple As at SOFR plus 149bps

First BCRED deal for 2026 lowers AAA tight for private credit CLOs
The deal issued its top-of-stack paper at SOFR plus 137bps

Former Ares CLO leader Boris Okuliar joins Corinthia
London-based Okuliar is now Corinthia’s chief strategy officer and head of global diversified credit, signalling the private credit firm’s expansion into public credit

CLO equity payments decline for US and Europe
Reinvesting US BSL CLOs saw median equity payments slip 16bps from the fourth quarter of 2025

Northwestern Mutual prices first new CLO in six months
The manager’s initial print for 2026 saw its triple As clear just outside the market tight for new issues

A fiery start to the year
Welcome to the first issue of the Creditflux magazine for 2026. Our cover pays homage to the Lunar New Year, which begins on February 17 and is symbolised by the horse

Software loans face further declines as AI fears persist
The rapid deployment of artificial intelligence is wreaking havoc with software companies that not long ago were darlings of the US leveraged loans market