If history repeats itself, the best CLO play could be to hold equities
After a futile scramble for liquidity, LyondellBasel filed for bankruptcy in the early morning hours of 6 January 2009. Bad luck for CLO managers that were holding the loan? Not at all

Global CLO b-wic round-up: $8 billion of US CLOs listed in record-breaking March
Last week brought an end to the busiest month in both the US and European CLO secondary markets since at least 2014. $7.7 billion of US CLO paper was on sale in March with a further €1.8 billion of European CLO bonds available, bringing the total listed in Q1 to $13.9 billion and €3.6 billion

Who's got the moves Europe: TV producer's loans rally most as recovery begins
The S&P/LSTA European Leverage Loan Index ended the week at 82.98 on 3 April – recovering 4.06 points from 78.92 on 24 March which was the lowest point for the index since the 2008 financial crisis.

Who's got the moves US: Carlyle leads as $3.7 billion of CLO loans recover
CLOs were exposed to $833.4 million worth of paper in the 10 term loans that suffered the largest price falls last week. But CLOs also had exposure to $3.67 billion of loans that recovered the most over the seven days.

Bain uses rights offerings as unusual route to raise cash for BDC
Bain Speciality Finance is looking to raise additional capital through a rights offering to “further strengthen its balance sheet” and “provide additional flexibility to support existing portfolio companies over the coming months”, chief executive officer Michael Ewald said in an open letter to shareholders on Monday

Fair Oaks suspends dividends from listed CLO fund citing covid-19 uncertainty
Fair Oaks Capital has suspended dividends on its listed CLO fund “in light of the ongoing uncertainty in economies and markets caused by covid-19 pandemic”, according to an update to investors in the $315 million fund

Global CLO b-wic round-up: CLO triple As recover but mezz left behind
The CLO secondary market was a tale of two halves last week. 100% of all bonds listed in b-wics on Monday and Tuesday had no covers released (either traded or did not trade), but the end of the week was a different story for both markets

Churchill collects $2 billion for second unlevered US direct lending fund
Churchill Asset Management has held a $2 billion final close on its second US direct lending fund, doubling its original $1 billion target size

Global CLO b-wic round-up: triple A volumes hit nine-year highs, but equity valuations could be "single digits"
Over $2.5 billion of US CLO paper listed in b-wics in last week's manic trading, with a further €435 million of European CLO bonds also on sale. CLO buyers and sellers turned to the safest part of the capital structure – the triple A rated notes – and away from its most illiquid asset class, with no equity bonds listed in either market

CLO pipeline: down but not out, as deals find new ways to limp forward
Deepening credit instability has taken a toll on CLO appetite, but there is still life in the primary market

PGIM lines up for print and sprint CLO
PGIM is looking to capitalise on market volatility by issuing a 'print and sprint' style CLO via Jefferies

Beneath the triple C: mighty CLO buckets from Akorns grow
Rating agencies went on a downgrading spree in February, with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s cutting 20 corporate names to triple C or below – affecting $2.78 billion of paper in US CLOs and €316.6 million in European CLOs. 

Global CLO b-wic round-up: sellers flock to secondary market as trade rate hits 71%
The broader market sell-off reached CLOs last week, with investors lining up to list their positions in the CLO secondary market

US CLO league tables: $2 billion reissue fires Apollo and JP Morgan to top spots
Apollo Global Management and JP Morgan teamed up to price the largest CLO of the 2.0 era in February that helped propel both to the top of the US CLO and global CLO league tables

Global CLO league tables - February 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - February 2020 YTD

Huge CDS gap yawns between US and Europe, despite Fed intervention
Having crossed paths in a rare moment of compression on Monday, iTraxx Europe and its US counterpart CDX IG have since undergone one of their biggest moments of dislocation since the global financial crisis, as an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to comfort investors about the impact of the coronavirus on the US economy

CLOs show coronavirus resistance even as bonds and loans suffer
CLO managers are - so far - looking defensively positioned in relation to the coronavirus outbreak, with only two of the five largest portfolio sectors listed as very negative in latest Wells Fargo research. But investor fears have all but closed the loan and bond primary pipeline, while lower rates signalled by the US Federal Reserve could spell a fall in leveraged loan and CLO demand

Europe rallies hard after CDX IG closes tighter for first time since June
Volatility in credit remains heightened due to the coronavirus outbreak, but movement has become two-way, with European CDS indices surging tighter today after US index CDX IG ended yesterday’s session tighter than iTraxx Europe for the first time in nine months

Credit traders’ kickstand: a year comes undone in a week as world faces coronavirus moment of truth
As the coronavirus outbreak reaches a 'decisive point', according to the World Health Organisation, one of most volatile weeks in recent memory has hauled credit spreads from their post-financial crisis tights to much wider levels last seen in the first half of 2019 and, in the case of emerging markets, more than a year ago.

Global CLO b-wic round-up: that's another fine mezz you've gotten me into
European CLO investors are tripping over themselves to buy mezzanine paper in the secondary CLO market

CLOs feel flat after housing $335 million of bankrupt RentPath
CLOs house $334.5 million of the debt of RentPath Holdings, which filed for Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Wednesday

Hadrian Wall tumbles as board calls for wind down of direct lending fund
Hadrian’s Wall Secured Investments' board of directors has decided that a wind down of the fund with cash returned to shareholders would be in the best interest of shareholders, according to a company update

Beneath the triple C: $1 billion of CLO credits take a dive
$957.9 million worth of loans held by CLOs suffered downgrades to triple C last month, with a further $442.1 million of existing triple C credits getting knocked lower still, according to the latest trustee reports on CLOi.

US CLO league tables: old deals get a fresh start in the new year
The majority of CLO issuance last month was in all forms of repricings, which totalled $4.8 billion and accounted for 54.5% of US CLO volumes

Global CLO league tables - January 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - January 2020 YTD