Ironwood targets $500 million for mezz debt and equity fund
Ironwood Capital is targeting $500 million ($550 million hard cap) for its latest fund which will focus on subordinated debt and minority equity investments in lower middle market US companies

Houlihan Lokey launches quarterly private credit index
Houlihan Lokey says it has launched a quarterly private credit index, which aims to increase visibility in private credit loans and inform investors’ views of market dynamics and help them make more better decisions

American Equity mandates $1 billion to Monroe for software and tech lending
American Equity Investment Life has awarded $1 billion to Monroe Capital for its technology lending platform focusing on middle market software, technology and recurring revenue

Earnings season and lifted hedges return credit to best levels in more than month
What began as a cautious, risk-averse week for the credit market is ending with a distinctly more bullish tone, with a fourth successive day of improvement taking spreads to their tightest levels for over a month

Supply chain crisis hits credit amid shift to physical products
Credit investors are bracing for choppy waters as the supply chain crisis makes itself felt on company balance sheets heading into the year end

Credit Fundraising: Private credit and CLO captive equity feature strongly as closes mount up
Credit funds have made a fair start to the fourth quarter, although the $21 billion raised during October is down substantially on September’s impressive record for 2021

It's a-live! AI platform launch puts US ratings in spotlight
RoboR8, a fintech platform that aims to democratise credit ratings through artificial intelligence, has launched and hopes to rate 50,000 companies by the end of December, before building to several million in 2022.

Tantrum time: investors brace for Fed to taper bond buying
The US Federal Reserve’s likely decision to curb its $120 billion-a-month bond purchase programme is looming as Creditflux goes to press

Credit rallies on Fed and BofE rates signals, but starting gun fires on tapering
Credit and equity markets have responded well to the US Federal Reserve unveiling much anticipated plans to begin tapering asset purchases, while vouching it will stay patient on hiking interest rates. The Bank of England followed this on Thursday by holding its rates at 0.1%

Fund performance: Dominant CLO funds look to end the year with 20%-plus gains
Once again the Creditflux hedge fund top 10 is dominated by CLO funds, with seven funds among the best performers in September.

Credit hedge funds (November 2021)
Credit hedge fund returns

Ucits at a glance: Robus and Altana enter the final sprint neck and neck
A downward turn hit Ucits funds as 65% of them made positive returns in September,

Credit funds at a glance (November 2021)
A round up of fundraising and people moves in credit

Niche credit funds make mid-market flexibility count
Funds that have the flexibility to invest in mid-cap debt issuers prospered in September, amid the usual swarm of outperforming CLO funds

Dispersion trades in play as transatlantic rift opens
The return of idiosyncratic risk at the wide end of US and European high yield markets has put index equity tranches for the two jurisdictions on noticeably divergent paths, say correlation traders

Energy crunch grows as differentiator for EM and western credit
Surging energy prices are adding to the inflationary picture in global economies and point to a mounting crisis that could bring sharply divergent performance for different parts of the credit market

Rental firm accelerates bullish drive despite credit market's heavy braking
Vehicle rental firm Avis Budget and UK retailer Iceland are among rare single name big movers in credit this week, as a tone of caution continues to hold sway over broader directional signals

Real estate manager wins $50 million debt mandate from 'Hong Kong insurer'
Patrizia has secured a $50 million commitment from a Hong Kong insurer to invest in real estate debt

Axa IM launches multi-strat fund for pensions
Axa Investment Managers’ ‘alternatives’ business has launched an open-ended strategy for pension funds

Most investors still behind target with sustainability and impact investing, survey finds
72% of global investors plan to increase their allocation targets to sustainability and impact investing. That is according to a limited partner survey by private markets firm HarbourVest Partners HarbourVest’s 2021 ESG, Sustainability, and Impact Investing Survey of LPs

LP round up: no Stoptober as investors allocate $5 billion to credit
US institutional investors allocated $5 billion to credit funds in October, with Oak Hill and Pimco among the biggest mandates    

There's still time to pick up pennies in credit before steamroller arrives: BNP Paribas
Declining dealer inventories, rising fund cash balances, and a greater prevalence of hedging have added up to produce a credit market that is positioned too short, according to BNP Paribas strategists

Zais and BNP Paribas strike ESG breakthrough with climate change CSO
The growing theme of environmental, social and governance standards helping to revitalise the market for collateralised synthetic obligations appears to have taken a big step forward, with Zais Group and BNP Paribas partnering on a first-of-its-kind deal that could lay a template for future transactions

Wells Fargo AM becomes Allspring under new ownership
Wells Fargo Asset Management has completed its transformation into Allspring Global Investment 

Lazard targets IG, crossover and HY in long/short credit ucits fund
Lazard Asset Management has unveiled a new credit ucits fund that will invest primarily in investment grade, crossover and high yield bonds in Europe and North America