September: credit funds at a glance
White Oak Global Advisors held a $2.1 billion final close on a new direct lending fund, while Phil Raciti's move from CVC Credit Partners to Halcyon Capital Management was one of the biggest moves in the credit industry

Wide CLO pricing need not be a drag
Established managers can price CLO liabilities at attractive levels, but we find that CLOs saddled with higher financing costs have nevertheless been among the market’s outstanding performers

Weighted average life divides CLO industry
Creditflux’s second CLO Census reveals stark differences of opinion on weighted average life and par-flush for US CLOs. But there is a clear consensus on which bank is best at CLO execution

Star names join Barclays as it pushes into CLOs

Not a bad time to try your hand at CLOs

Mid market CLOs - the expanding middle
The small band of middle market CLO managers employ a growing range of strategies - from direct lending-style origination, to dabbling in broadly syndicated loans - as they build out deals. Our analysis of mid market CLOs reveals that managers have distinguished themselves with the overlap between mid market US CLO portfolios being approximately 5%

Evolving strategy takes Norinchukin close to top spot in CLO investment
Over the years, Nochu has tweaked its cov-lite stipulations, and added mid market and European CLO exposure to its CLO investments. It’s now nearly the market’s biggest investor  

At the heart of CLO doc negotiations
As investors up and down the capital structure shared their views on fictional US and European CLOs, we discovered that par flushes must be worded carefully or they could be a deal-breaker
 

There are no perfect hedges for CLOs
As the CLO market gets hotter and hotter, investors are seeking hedges against the inevitable downturn. But although there are a wide range of options, there is no consensus on which is best
 

Investors gather to talk teams and tactics
With US CLO risk retention recently ruled off-side, attendees at the Creditflux Symposium were expecting a number of small, nimble managers to enter the field of play as the year progresses

Experienced CSAM holds off boutiques to win biggest prize
Credit Suisse Asset Management became a two-time winner of the Creditflux Manager of the Year award last month after picking up the 2018 trophy in front of a packed house at London’s Landmark Hotel on 9 May

CLO performance is faltering – a loans shock would help
Early CLO 2.0s benefited from wide loan spreads. Today, that arbitrage opportunity has closed and returns have gradually diminished – yet there are now similarities to the market in 2007

CLOs aren’t as similar as you might think
Almost 70% of some managers’ portfolios overlap with those of their competitors. But the average overlap is around 35% so there’s plenty of room for managers to express their preferred strategies
 

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
 

Tracking down the credit industry’s original winners
All winning managers at the first Creditflux awards survived the crisis, under their own names – like BlackRock – or under new owners. But what happened to the people who collected the trophies?
 

Tastes change in secondary trading
Our analysis of the secondary market shows that, since 2013, appetite for CLOs run by tier one managers persists through market dips and rallies.

A credit market in constant flux
Since Creditflux's launch in 2001, we've reported on CLO evolution, trendy new products, regulatory U-turns, and, of course, crashes. Which, we wonder, is coming next?

Making it to the top: women reflect on changes in the CLO industry
As a growing number of women break the glass ceiling and take senior positions in CLO firms, Creditflux asked about the opportunities and challenges they face. By Michelle D’Souza

Tapping Europe doesn't always pay
The premise – reaching a broader audience of investors – is sound. But some managers have found that opting for dual compliant CLOs is not worth the extra effort.

Building new ways to evaluate CLOs
For CLO investors, there is no longer a question of whether a particular CLO will be reworked; instead, they must judge when, and how dramatically, its terms will change. By Tom Davidson

Managers predict skill will win out
We asked managers to predict the year ahead across a range of credit strategies. Overall, they had a positive outlook. By Grace Jennings-Edquist

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

Manager activity spreads across US
In 2016, there were 83 CLO managers active in the US; by the end of 2017 there were 121

Managers pick spots on CLO curve
As refi volumes slowed through 2017, the term curve for CLOs steepened, leading managers to vary their deal tenors as they sought to hit the evolving sweet spot.

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