CLO investors should be looking at CSOs

Anti-ageing elixir gives CLOs 10-year lifespan

Seriously, the CLO arb is difficult right now

CLOs at a glance

A round-up of CLO performance

Managers slide down term curve
PGIM and Voya were among managers issuing short dated deals in the first quarter. These CLOs, along with a surge in b-wics, kept up the supply of short dated paper as refinancings fell away

It’s possible to be big — and still be picky
Our analysis of 2018 CLOs shows that firms such as Credit Suisse Asset Management and Sound Point Capital Management have built loan portfolios that are different to the rest of the market.

Large, liquid loans aren’t always perfect
CLOs could be forgiven for rushing to buy Refinitiv loans — after all it was the biggest LBO since the crisis. But some large managers have abstained, while others have bought opportunistically

Moving on from the late 2018 hangover
It might be too early to call a full recovery, but it’s fair to say that the US loan market is back on track with $48 billion of institutional issuance in 2019 — 88% of which is made up of new issues

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

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

After early crescendo CLOs end on flat note
Huge issuance and the end of risk retention ensured the US CLO industry was buoyant in early 2018, but later in the year the term curve flattened, pricing levels became sporadic and volumes dwindled

Widening whisks market back to 2017
Right now, CLO volumes are healthy and the list of active managers is steadily growing. But with CLO liability spreads reverting to where they were a year ago, some issuers are a little nervous.

Time to reprice? Then compare the market
CLOs no longer fizzle out. Instead, they go through multiple repricings, where, with stakes lower and deadlines tighter than when they were issued, their managers can try alternative arrangers

Issuers excited by busy first quarter
After 13 months of compulsory risk retention for US CLOs, it seems that the simplified regulatory regime is already encouraging a host of CLOs from returnees and new entrants to the market
 

Who predicted $145 billion of issuance?
That went better than expected: US risk retention came in, and $145 billion of global new issuance later, it’s clear that CLOs aren’t disappearing. By Tanvi Gupta and Sam Robinson

CLO managers return to new issues
The frenetic pace of refis and resets slowed in the third quarter as CLO managers – new and old – turned their attention to building assets

CLO boom encourages new ideas
Volumes are up, spreads are down and risk retention is a doddle. That must mean it’s time to push the boat out and innovate

Refinancing and reset options change the face of CLOs
The CLO market is going into overdrive, with refis, resets and new issue deals combining to give investors an unprecedented choice of maturities.

Who cares about risk retention?
Managers watching CLO spreads reach their tightest levels since the crisis had little time to fret about US risk retention