CLOs at a glance: CLO managers are quite partial to a refi
There was a wave of CLO partial refinancing in August as equity investors capitalised on lower interest rates to cut the coupon on fixed rate tranches

Points up front: How much do I owe you?
Payment systems in the credit industry had a bad August

Credit fundraising: distressed keeps in favour but CLO ETFs emerge
Five months into global lockdown and distressed debt funds are still proving popular, but several managers have found success pitching other types of credit strategies

OC health check: CLOs pay $1.3 billion on senior tranches as payment dates come due
Senior debt holders received $1.3 billion of principal from CLOs that breached an overcollateralisation test in July, a month in which the majority of scheduled payment dates fell. Of those deals suffering an OC breach, 190 were due to make a payment to noteholders and 57% were within reinvestment. 

Beneath the triple C: CLOs get their sneakers on as retailers run into bankruptcy
July added further relief to CLO portfolios with the slowest rate of downgrades to triple C since March. US CLO portfolios faced downgrades of $2.18 billion to triple C while European portfolios faced just €59.13 million of such downgrades

Global CLO b-wic round-up: Palmer Square sets highest cover as double B curve inverts
Palmer Square and MJX set the CLO secondary market trading range, but pickings in Europe were the slimmest they have been in almost five months

Managers weigh up matters of principal
CLO managers that were able to avoid OC traps made double-digit equity distributions in Q2, despite the headwinds. But these firms tended not to be among those that built the most par

Global CLO league tables - July 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - July 2020 YTD

CSOs start printing again with new money ready to invest
The synthetic bespoke market is putting behind it the turmoil of recent months, with a pipeline of new CSO transactions starting to price and a swelling supply of new money lining up to invest.

CLO managers offer views on ESG for upcoming PRI report
Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is set to unveil a report detailing results from its ESG structured credit survey in the next few months, and the institution anticipates that this will be a launch pad for further investigation about ESG integration into the asset class

Fund performance: Credit funds post double-digit gains
June returns have once again been led by CLO funds, as seven out of the top 10 belong to our CLOs category.

Don’t be a hero: managers opt to go market-neutral
There’s yet more volatility in store later this year — that’s the consensus according to credit portfolio managers that have spoken to Creditflux. What they are unsure about is the scale and direction of this movement, which is leading them to prune their portfolios with an emphasis on market-neutral tactics

They said it: "Imagine a garden party and all of a sudden a big wasp shows up"
On Creditflux’s US CLO webinar last month, Napier Park’s head of US CLO investments Serhan Secmen described the March sell-off as a garden party

New funds move in as tranche trades take off
Synthetic structured credit funds are proving popular with investors amid a spike in index tranche trading

Points up front: Introducing Downton Flux

During last month’s broadcast of the Creditflux Manager of the Year, we were inundated with messages of congratulations for the award winners via a live feed...

Banks and high yield corps lead charge as results prompt European rally
High yield corporate credit is today's outperforming part of the market as European credit rallies back from its recent wides, as the latest round of earnings proves stronger than many had expected

OC health check: all quiet on the overcollateralisation front
Eight US broadly syndicated loan CLOs reported overcollateralisation test breaches last week during a quiet reporting period in which only 40 CLOs published a trustee report, according to CLO-i, but focus is turning to the swathe of CLO distributions coming due.

Global CLO b-wic round-up: CLO lower mezz spreads tighten back after volatile two weeks
Secondary CLO spreads in the US and European markets have recovered after moving wider over the last two weeks

OC health check: CLOs heal up with no new breaches among US BSL deals
53 CLOs reported an over-collateralisation (OC) test breach last week, but only two CLOs breached an OC test for the first time, neither of which were US broadly syndicated loan CLOs

OC health check: CLO managers drop their breaches
114 CLOs reported overcollateralisation breaches last week, but only three deals reported breaches for the first time

US and Europe diverge as loan trading bands emerge on the continent
Europe and the US are on different courses with credit indices having drifted apart over the past month, say trading sources. Europe is expected to suffer fewer defaults to the extent that "it’s getting quite difficult for borrowers to default”, as one source put it. But the US has "higher growth potential due to its more dynamic economy"

OC health check: slowing of downgrades offers some reprieve for CLOs stuck in breach
89 deals reported overcollateralisation breaches last week, but only seven of these deals were breaching any OC test for the first time, according to the latest reports available on CLO-i

OC health check: US CLOs show improvement as first euro CLOs breach multiple tests
15 deals reported a breach in an overcollateralisation test last week according to the latest reports available on CLO-i, including one European CLO and 14 US broadly syndicated loan CLOs.

Beneath the triple C: downgrade rate slows as $8 billion of CLO loans tumble
May offered some respite to CLO portfolios as corporate downgrades to triple C were reduced heavily - affecting just $6.67 billion of US CLO paper and €1.09 billion of European CLO portfolios

OC health check: second European 2.0 CLO reports junior OC breach
33 deals reported overcollateralisation (OC) breaches last week in a relatively quiet reporting period.  314 deals are now reporting OC breaches as of the latest report, according to CLO-i.