Global CLO round-up: Europe mops up demand, as Euribor hits the floor
The final stretch of the year began with a bang, with the first week of Q4 bringing $3.3 billion of CLO issuance in the US and €1.2 billion in Europe. But the resurgence in volumes was not the only talking point last week, with Europe coming into focus as spreads surfed tighter

BlackRock launches $2 billion coporate credit fund with special situations remit
BlackRock has closed its flagship opportunistic credit fund, Global Credit Opportunities, with $2 billion capital commitments

CLO investor looks to offload US and European anchor equity positions
There are two controlling CLO equity stakes up for sale today with a 2017 European deal and a reissued US transaction going under the hammer

San Mateo pension backs BlackRock direct lending fund
San Mateo County Employees' Retirement Association is set to make a commitment of $35 million to BlackRock Direct Lending Fund IX, according to an agenda item document seen by Creditflux.

New kids on the block dominate awards

Spire scales heights as Creditflux’s Manager of the Year 2019
Spire Partners celebrated bringing home three Creditflux awards, including the coveted Manager of the Year trophy, on a night of high spirits on 8 May at London’s Landmark Hotel.

Points up front: CLO awards banter
The Creditflux Manager Awards have a history of springing surprises. This year we had journalist and TV presenter Gavin Esler host the awards dinner and regale the audience with a Dolly Parton gag (the less said about that, the better).

Spire wins Creditflux Manager of the Year award
Spire Partners was the big winner at Creditflux's Manager Awards last night as the London-based manager scooped the award for the manager of the year. On top of this, the firm picked up awards for Best European CLO Manager and Best European CLO for Aurium CLO II

BlackRock moves along the term curve by pricing five-year US CLO
BlackRock has followed up its three-year US CLO in February with a regular five-year reinvestment CLO. The latest deal has priced well in comparison to the short-dated transaction 

CLO pipeline: managers seek to return as others arrive, after testing Q1
With the first quarter of 2019 now in the books, the CLO market looks to be continuing where it left off.

BlackRock names global alternatives head amid senior leadership shake-up
BlackRock has reshuffled its leadership and made several senior changes across various parts of its business, according to an internal memo seen by Creditflux

We can’t hide it any longer, we’re tiering up
With the opening months of 2019 highlighting a clear class system among CLO managers, there has never been a better time to assess tiering. We find that timing, patience and luck all play a role

BlackRock to merge infra and real estate platforms as key figure departs
BlackRock is restructuring its infastructure and real estate platforms into a real assets division, sources say

We can't hide it any longer, we're tiering up

US CLO round-up: years fall off CLO market as it gets back to its old self
The CLO market is starting to look rejuvenated, with the dense pipeline having this week offloaded seven new broadly syndicated deals and one middle market deal as Creditflux goes to press – totalling $3.7 billion of new paper. 

Shorter-dated CLOs grow in popularity with BlackRock pricing three-year deal
Short CLOs gained in popularity yesterday with BlackRock joining the list of managers issuing deals with less than the standard five years of reinvestment

Keep calm and buy corporate loans
Calm heads prevailed in 2018. Markets were volatile and risk retention was supposed to cause problems, but there was no need to panic and volumes went on to break records set in 2014

UK pension looks to take investment grade strategy global
UK pension fund National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) has issued a search for a global investment grade corporate bond manager

New York pension ups commitment to HarbourVest by $400 million
New York State Teachers' Retirement System has topped up commitments to Maple Fund, having already approved $600 million in 2017

Majority of investors seek to increase private credit allocations, BlackRock survey reveals
Over half of investors plan to increase their allocation to private credit in 2019, according to an institutional client rebalancing report published by BlackRock

BlackRock BDC seeks shareholder approval to fast-track leverage increase
BlackRock TCP Capital Corp has become the latest business development company to seek shareholders’ approval to double its use of leverage

BlackRock prices CLO refi at triple A tights and adds single B tranche
BlackRock has refinanced its 2016 CLO named Magnetite XVIII, pricing the triple-A class in line with recent tight-end benchmark deals and adding a single-B tranche

BlackRock adds $34 billion of assets with Citibanamex buyout
BlackRock has acquired the asset management business of Citibanamex, a Mexico-based banking firm and subsidiary of Citigroup

BlackRock becomes latest manager to explore interval fund structure for credit
Several managers have hit the market with the interval fund structure, as investors look to invest in illiquid strategies through an illiquid fund structure