You seem familiar
The overlap between European CLOs has risen to 51.6%, but the largest issuers are only slightly more aligned to their peers at 55.19% — so bonds are proving to be an important differentiator

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

CLO wormhole opens as deal pricing blurs
The CLO prints you see today might have happened a month ago. No, we’re not travelling back in time. Instead, a trend toward locking in senior notes a month early is skewing market pricing

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  

Moving fast pays off for hedge funds
2020 was an up and down year in credit, and credit hedge fund managers had to move quickly to capture opportunities from the dislocations that inevitably opened up

Waiting for afters
Day one arb remains important, but last year there were opportunities aplenty in the secondary market, which put the onus on printing CLOs and waiting for the day after non-call periods expired

We were battered in 2020 — but we weren’t beaten
The CLO industry has survived a year blighted by covid-19. We talk to portfolio managers about the strengths of CLOs and preparations for what was expected to be a ‘cataclysmic’ recession

Still weighed down by 2015 oil price slump
It’s three years since the depths of the oil crisis but offshore service companies — such as the helicopter businesses that transport workers to oil rigs — are not seeing lift-off in prices or profits

Rolling the dice on Turkey and Italy
Gambling specialists with operations around the Mediterranean are facing political risks and currency falls – but there are opportunities to hit the jackpot if investors play their cards right

Steelmakers forge links in face of overcapacity

Which flavour do you favour?
We asked four direct lenders for their opinions on four fictional European borrowers operating in software, food, consumer loans and retail – and found they had similar tastes.

Payday: Investors go for broke on regulatory bet
New regulations could seriously hamper US payday lenders – but bond holders are betting the rules won’t be enacted

Spotlight: Satellite operators - sending signals of distress
Satellite operators are trying to transmit optimistic messages – but they admit that prices for data services are falling

US fashion stores: queueing up to exchange old debt
Fashionably loose covenants are allowing under-pressure retailers to turn expensive unsecured debt into senior notes

Heavy equipment suppliers: slowly crawling out of the mud
There are tentative signs that heavy equipment manufacturers are finally pulling themselves out of the mire

Container shipping: Struggling to stay afloat
Debt and overcapacity mean container shippers must consolidate fast to avoid further wrecks