Credit pickers need luck to avoid OC trap
We know what you’re thinking: is my CLO failing its OC test? The truth is, in all this volatility, it can be hard to keep track, unless your deal has high quality liquid loans

 

US CLO league tables: coronavirus brings changes in approach and new top manager
Amid a big slump in CLO primary issuance, new deals have taken focus and there are some notable changes at the top of the league tables

Global CLO league tables - April 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - April 2020 YTD

Who’s got the moves US: oil and gas leads renaissance for US CLO managers
The US leveraged loan market has held steady over the last two weeks. After rising to just below 87 of par in mid-April, the S&P LSTA US Leveraged Loan index closed at 85.75 to start this week

Global CLO b-wic round-up: equity makes a return as investors search for price levels
Three European CLO equity bonds have traded with colour attached in the last two weeks in the secondary market

CLOs hold $189.3 million of J Crew as coronavirus pushes firm into bankruptcy
12 CLO managers hold $189.3 million debt of US retailer and household name J Crew (parent company Chino Holdings), which filed for Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday

OC health check: first senior breach in middle market pushes CLO tally to 13
41 CLOs have breached an overcollateralisation test in the last week, according to the latest trustee reports on CLO-i, taking the overall total to 182

OC health check: failures lift above 100 as five more deals breach senior test
Another 116 CLOs have breached their overcollaterisation tests in the last week, according to the latest trustee reports on CLO-i. Out of this, five deals have failed OC tests for all classes – bringing the overall tally of deals that have breached senior OC tests to nine.

US and European CLO triple Bs hit secondary market as downgrade fear sets in
Downgrade risk is being priced into triple B-rated CLO tranches, according to market sources, after a wave of mezzanine and junior CLO debt tranches swept onto b-wics yesterday

Global CLO b-wic round-up: spreads tighten across the board as bond-flex CLOs trade well
Price levels have tightened and, more importantly, stabilised across the secondary CLO market over the last two weeks, but the Easter break led to a drop off in CLO b-wic supply

OC health check: another two CLOs fail senior OC tests
Two senior overcollateralisation test failures number among 26 deals joining the list this week of CLOs breaching their OC tests in April, according to the latest trustee reports on CLO-i.

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 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.

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

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

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

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