Trump victory raises hopes for high yield markets, M&A revival
Leverage finance markets cheered Donald Trump’s win on the prospect the former president’s return to the White House will unleash deregulation and M&A, lower taxes and higher economy growth

Fitch raises European default rate assumptions with loans in tougher spot than bonds
Analysts at Fitch Ratings have raised their base-case leveraged loan default rate for end-2023 in Europe to 4.5% from 3.5%, and their severe-case rate to 6%

Beneath the triple C: CLOs take first knock since covid scrapes
CLO managers have been hit by a number of loan downgrades to triple C for the first time since the wave of pandemic-related cuts trickled to a halt in early 2021. Companies indirectly linked to the health sector suffered most in May 

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

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  

LP round up: Fidelity wins big, Pacific retains loan mandate, pensions eye distressed
The month also included one CLO fund commitment, one high yield manager search, one finalised US loans mandate and one $400 million multi-sector fixed income managed account mandate

CLO primary pause ends as Fortress prints first deal of 2022
Fortress Investment Group has priced the first CLO primary market transaction of 2022

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

Angelo Gordon inserts loan tranche as it prints second-largest CBO ever
Angelo Gordon has issued the second-largest bond-heavy CLO in the market, teaming up with JP Morgan to print the $847.7 million deal named AG CC Funding II

CLO refi and reset volumes surge with $2.3 billion priced on Friday
CLO refi and reset volumes surged on Friday with $2.3 billion priced across the US market, according to market sources. Brigade Capital Management, MidOcean Credit Partners and New Mountain Capital reset regular-way CLOs, Blackstone Credit scored a regular CLO refi, Sculptor Capital Management refinanced a bond-heavy CLO, and Ivy Hill Asset Management reset a middle market CLO

Romark returns with second bond-flex CLO
Romark Credit Advisors has issued its second bond-heavy CLO following its debut in the asset class last year

It's all relative: IG index drifts wide of 50bp as European CLO triple Bs outperform
US investment grade credit has been an underperformer in the last few weeks with CDX IG trading north of 50 basis points again. But European CLO triple Bs are looking strong while there is a stronger bid for two- to three-year paper in the US

It's all relative: CDX HY touches record tights but junior US CLO tranches leak wider
Credit spreads are marching tighter, but someone forgot to tell the CLO market. European and US CDS spreads have moved in step with each other for the most part with investment grade and high yield tightening 4-6% in the last week, whereas CLOs have been losing ground

It's all relative: CLO spreads explore record tights as credit indices hit impasse
CLO spreads are grinding to ever tighter levels, despite a flattish week for credit in which corporate credit indices have ended up more or less unchanged

It's all relative: CLOs are lagging no more, as Carlyle deal drags market tighter
“CLOs are lagging” has been a much repeated refrain over the last nine months. But Carlyle Group has this week produced a US CLO that has dragged spreads to their tightest point in three years so that, rather than comparing CLOs to pre-covid levels, they should be assessed against early 2018

It's all relative: senior CLO tranches tighten 18% in Europe as CDS indices sit out rally

Beneath the triple C: 13 CLO loans take a dive but defaults subside to a ripple
22 corporate debt issuers were downgraded to triple C or below in November and December by Moody’s or S&P, out of which 13 can be found in CLO portfolios  – hurting $4.55 billion of US CLO loans, €1.87 billion of European CLO portfolios and almost $80 million of middle market CLOs loans, according to CLO-i

It's all relative: Euro CLO mezz rallies to follow month-long IG/HY compression
European credit suffered this week with Brexit talks between the UK and the EU dragging on and both sides conceding that a trade deal is unlikely to be reached by Sunday’s deadline. But European CLO tranches have held up reasonably well with mezzanine spreads tightening by almost 13% in December

Compression plays out as HY and European CLO double Bs outperform
Investment grade and high yield credit spreads have tightened in sync with each other this week, but CDS and CLOs alike underline that the big theme over the past month has been compression between investment grade and high yield

Five year structures back in vogue as Diameter prices bond flex CLO
Diameter Capital Partners has priced the third five-year CLO structure amid the coronavirus pandemic, after teaming with GreensLedge to issue its latest CBO named Diameter Credit Funding III,

Credit fundraising: distressed keeps in favour but CLO ETFs emerge
Five months into global lockdown and distressed debt funds are still proving popular, but several managers have found success pitching other types of credit strategies

Fund performance: Credit funds post double-digit gains
June returns have once again been led by CLO funds, as seven out of the top 10 belong to our CLOs category.

They said it: "Imagine a garden party and all of a sudden a big wasp shows up"
On Creditflux’s US CLO webinar last month, Napier Park’s head of US CLO investments Serhan Secmen described the March sell-off as a garden party

Beneath the triple C: downgrade rate slows as $8 billion of CLO loans tumble
May offered some respite to CLO portfolios as corporate downgrades to triple C were reduced heavily - affecting just $6.67 billion of US CLO paper and €1.09 billion of European CLO portfolios

CLOs on lookout as Neiman recovery signals slump and DC confirms credit event
Five-year CDS referencing Neiman Marcus widened by four points to 95.25 points up front, according to IHS Markit, as the Americas Determinations Committee confirmed the US retailer has triggered a bankruptcy credit event