Points up front: CLO award-winners love bowing out at the top
Reaching the summit of their profession gives CLO officials the compulsion to move on to pastures new, as evidenced by the Creditflux Manager Awards

Points up front: Risk retention gets less than 5% of airtime
In a sign of how buoyant the CLO market is, risk retention was hardly mentioned at Creditflux’s CLO Symposium. Milbank partner John Goldfinch gave a self-deprecating assessment... 

"Purchasing IG CLO debt was a key driver of success for 1.0 CLOs"
Longer reinvestment periods, the ability to buy IG tranches and improved loan settlements would improve CLOs

"I’m passionate about broader representation within investment teams"
CIP's Leila Donnachy takes our credit quiz 

"If you sat still on a large portfolio of 2019 and 2020 CLOs, it may have shrunk by more than 25%"

Past returns: Prophet’s early CLO redemption
In Creditflux five years ago, we reported that Prophet Capital, the control equity investor in Covenant Credit Partners CLO I, had driven liquidation of the deal

They said it: "The debtor’s [Highland’s] founder, James Dondero, created an elaborate web of approximately 2,000 business entities&qu
Highland’s unsecured creditors break down the company’s corporate structure

"In some ways, CLOs resemble a quirky, cottage industry more than a trillion-dollar market"
CLO volumes outstanding have passed $1 trillion, but index omission and private placements are holding us back

Past returns: Doing DIY CLOs
Five years ago we reported that CLO managers were considering self-arranged CLOs

They said it: "The mantra is doing good and doing well without sacrificing returns"
CarVal on its ESG line of CLOs

Points up front: Writing the book on CMVs
Former Canyon Partners CLO head Dominique Mielle has gone from poring over CLO documentation to writing a novel about her experiences in the credit industry

"I’ve been doing ESG for 27 years; I just didn’t know it"
Apollo's Joe Mornoey takes our credit quiz

"Spacs… what better buyer than someone with a short fuse who needs to get their capital working"
Since the beginning of 2020, more than $191 billion has been raised in spac (special purpose acquisition company) IPOs. This money has such a short fuse — get a deal done in 24 months or management loses the IPO costs it covered — and there has been so much of it, that it has had an impact on the markets

Past returns: Mid market CLOs move into light
Ten years ago in Creditflux, we reported that S&P was reducing shadow ratings after it notified CLO managers it would not assign such ratings to companies with more than $499 million of outstanding debt

They said it: "A lot of value was lost due to CLO window dressing"
"A lot of value was lost due to CLO window dressing"

Point's up front: To have and to hold
The bankruptcy of Highland Capital Management rumbles on. As the case turns messy, a judge has poetically suggested it is like a divorce between the company and its former chief executive officer James Dondero

"Pain is on the way: spreads are too tight, while compression and carry are done. But what if it's not?"
Welshcake reminds us that mid-cycle portfolio management is a funny old game  

They said it: "The board announces the discovery of a website purporting to represent Volta"
They said it 

Points up front: CLO Initiative For Change
Well done CIFC Asset Management and other counterparties to a new US CLO, which donated $145,000 to Black Girls Code

"How CLO managers optimise the value of reorg equity is one of the most important unasked questions"
Getting the most out of reorg equity could be the difference between a good CLO and a great one  

CLOs seem like Premier League members in the world of finance
The CLO industry is in a privileged position and can wield its power to do good  

They said it: "The CLO business continues to move forward... it is still going strong"
A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank says it is committed to US CLO new issues

"Why can’t loans and CLOs simply move to three-month treasury bills as our reference rate?"
Sofr may be touted as Libor’s natural replacement, but the best known rate in the world is also an option

"Three CLOs issued in 2021 have included triple C baskets of 20%"
Big triple C buckets helped mid market CLO issuers in 2020 and the trend is for even bigger allowances this year