Banks predict record-breaking year ahead
Consensus figures generated from outlook reports by five banks suggest 2025 will be another strong year for CLO issuance. But last year, their estimates were well below the actual numbers

Slow and steady wins the day
It’s often thought CLO managers add value to their deals via high volume trading strategies. The data shows this can be true — but on average, top performing CLOs are less actively traded

CLO ETF market hits new heights
Just when it seemed CLO ETFs couldn’t grow any faster, along came October. The final quarter of 2024 kicked off with net fund flows of almost USD 2bn in a single month — an all-time record.

Triple C assets and capital preservation
In the US and Europe, better performing CLOs tend to hold fewer triple C assets. But even so, a third of top performing CLOs in the US have more than 6% of their assets in the triple C bucket.

Founding five get off to a famous start
This is the story of how the five founding members of the CLO team came together at CIBC, and how they have grown from nothing to 28 transactions in less than a year

Static deals stand out in Europe
European CLO equity in redeemed deals has delivered excellent returns. But managers might be surprised to discover that static deals are the region’s stars

Taking stock after a long hot summer
As fall approaches, the global CLO and leveraged loan markets are in a strong position. But will records set in 2021 tumble?  We compare the numbers — and find out what the market thinks

Reset or refinancing?
The CLO market is expecting another strong half year for both resets and refinancings. But what factors are leading equity investors to prefer resetting deals over refinancing them?

CLO strategies outperform again
In 2023, our index of funds investing in CLO tranches and equity returned 22.9%. In the first six months of this year, the index reached 9.9%, as these funds again delivered outstanding results

Reset focus shifts to pre-COVID deals
As spreads tighten, managers are looking to reset CLOs that priced before the onset of the COVID pandemic — even if this slightly increases the deals’ weighted average cost of capital.

Relating arbitrage, issuance and equity
Day one arbitrage remains a key metric for CLO equity investors. But how does the US BSL CLO arb today compare with historical averages? And does the figure impact deals’ equity returns?

Rapid growth shows middle market CLO no longer BSL’s little brother
Middle market CLOs, the once niche sector that securitises private credit loans, is seeing a growth spurt. What was a junior partner to the much larger BSL world is now a sizeable entity of its own.

Full steam ahead in the US and Europe
We’re now six months into 2024, and according to our latest league tables, the CLO engine shows no sign of slowing down, as spreads grind tighter and resets get underway in Europe

European managers struggle to add alpha
Before the COVID pandemic, European CLOs comfortably outperformed the Morningstar European Euro-Denominated Loan Index. Since then, alpha has declined for many managers

Older CLOs show they’ve still got it
The CLO primary market is vibrant — but some older vintages are still performing very well. We look at the equity performance of US BSL CLOs that have exited their reinvestment period

Moving forward together
This year’s Creditflux London Women in CLOs event saw almost 100 participants gather for an evening of networking, cocktails and perfume-making at the Landmark Hotel

What a difference a year makes
Speakers at this year’s CLO Symposium were united in their optimism — they feel the CLO markets in the US and Europe are doing well, and that should continue for the rest of 2024

GoldenTree takes home the big prize
Our 16th annual awards saw the CLO community gather at London’s Landmark Hotel to recognise the best performing CLOs, CLO managers and CLO funds — and the global manager of the year

BofA: innovation and consistency
The first of our new series of CLO arranger profiles takes a look at Bank of America, the largest shop in the market, where one team covers CLO arranging, trading and financing, globally

CLOs grow from strength to strength
The first quarter of 2024 saw such extraordinary issuance across the global CLO market that it was enough to outpace the equally extraordinary amortisation occurring in older deals

Do defaults predict equity returns?
At first glance, recently redeemed European CLOs show some sort of correlation between final IRR and the number of defaults in their portfolio. But what other factors affect performance?

What do reset deals have in common?
Is it possible to predict which deals are likely to be reset next? With reset mania continuing to grip the US CLO market, we search for common factors among 2014-2021 deals that were reset

How many CLOs will be reset?
Tightening liability spreads aren’t just driving record new CLO issuance this year — they’re also triggering a wave of resets and refinancings in the US, especially for broadly syndicated CLOs

How many CLOs will be called this year?
Most CLOs are called when loan market prices are high. Distributions and equity NAV are also important, and they suggest that over 30 2017 and 2018 deals are now ripe for redemption

CLO rankings: 2023 turns out OK
Last year may not have seen records in the primary CLO market, but it was a very solid performer with a strong finish.