What do reset deals have in common?
Is it possible to predict which deals are likely to be reset next? With reset mania continuing to grip the US CLO market, we search for common factors among 2014-2021 deals that were reset

US borrowers try again with high-water mark provisions
In the US, high-water marking of EBITDA was rebuffed back in 2022. But the concept has been used regularly in Europe and US borrowers are once again slipping it into credit agreements

How many CLOs will be called this year?
Most CLOs are called when loan market prices are high. Distributions and equity NAV are also important, and they suggest that over 30 2017 and 2018 deals are now ripe for redemption

Ask the market where spreads are heading
Nothing brings the CLO market together like a good moan about the state of the arb. But according to our data, the arbitrage for new-issue US CLOs has remained in the same range for years. 

How worried should we be about defaults?
As defaults in the US loan market continue to stack up, we investigate the fallout for CLO investors by focusing on the OC tests of double B tranches across 10 years of US CLO vintages

CLO Census: It’s time to put the shop in order
After a lacklustre year for the CLO market, the 539 respondents to our comprehensive survey are increasingly calling for structural changes, from electronic trading to standardised documents

Should I worry about synthetic Libor?
The date on which the ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) will cease publishing the remaining available tenors of Libor is fast approaching. But initially, publication of all tenors of Libor was supposed to cease on 31 December 2021. 

CLO funds make best of a bad situation
It can’t get any worse can it? Well, it did in 2022, when credit spreads kept moving wider. Still, CLO funds were able to withstand the pressure, and they outperformed other credit strategies

Rope-a-dope brings knock-out returns
Post-pandemic US and European CLOs delivered mid-teen equity returns in 2022, despite a barrage of weak macroeconomic news and what could have been a heavyweight Libor mismatch  

We made the most of a tricky situation
The contrast between 2021 and the following 12 months could not have been starker. But although some heavy hitters remained on the sidelines, 94 US CLO managers priced new deals in 2022

Not every CLO can be a winner
The CLO industry has undeniably performed well enough to justify the plaudits it receives. But there will always be some unloved CLO tranches that slip into triple C territory

Weren’t there more of us than this?
According to this year’s Creditflux CLO Census, the CLO industry is not feeling optimistic. Some investors have vanished and managers have not taken advantage of helpful market conditions

What matters is what you do with it
CLO managers yearn for flexibility so they can take advantage when credit sells off. But it isn’t enough on its own: triple C-flex CLOs saw portfolios erode this year, while CBOs outperformed

Can someone call the triple A? We’ve stalled
CLO issuers are in need of AAA roadside assistance. Despite the emergence of new buyers, a lack of senior CLO investors — particularly US banks — has brought the primary market to a halt  

We’re drifting apart
Everyone’s issuing US CLOs these days and it is tempting to believe the crowd of managers is blending into one. However, overall portfolio overlap has dropped to 37.7% across 2021 CLOs  

Arb work pays off
With day-one arbitrage alone delivering projected CLO cash-on-cash returns of 20-25%, 2021 may have been the best year ever for equity investors — at least until CLO spreads began to widen  

HY fund is exception to rule of CLOs
CLO funds have had back-to-back years of outperformance versus credit, proving the asset class is a great place to invest, rain or shine. But a Wasserstein HY fund was the star performer in 2021  

I’ll see your 2020 and raise you 2021
Discounted loans, Libor floors and bond flexibility helped make 2021 an even better year for CLO returns than 2020, as US CLOs distributed 15.54% and European CLOs paid 13.93% annualised

CLO managers show respect to their elders
Alongside lucrative new issues, managers also make time for refinancing and resetting old deals. Our data shows that, in 2021, mid-sized firms were the most effective at this balancing act

These CLO docs could be better
It seems there’s not much to worry about if you’re in the CLO market. In Creditflux’s CLO Census, voters said docs should follow a template as Jefferies, AGL and Hayfin emerge as rising stars

Refi deluge casts shadow on b-wics

Still plenty more fish in the triple C

Coronavirus tiers up old ranking script
Forget everything you thought you knew about CLO manager tiers. Apollo and Blackstone are mainstays, but smaller, more nimble issuers are finding new ways to stand out from the crowd

Woah, we’re halfway there
Judging by the 2020 vintage, European CLO overlap is 50%. But varied approaches to holding bonds and the many loans managers turn down mean there are ways for issuers to outperform

CLOs come up smelling of roses
The coronavirus crisis could have cut back 10 years of CLO market progress, but investors’ foresight, trading chops and flexibility meant many saw their strategies blossom during 2020