Fertiliser production: Caught in a bleak midwinter
Fertiliser makers have invested to prepare for growth – but the outlook is wintry and their cash is dwindling.

Toys R Us: Trouble in toy town
One of the world's biggest retailers may be just one bad quarter away from a debt restructuring – or bankruptcy

An end to bump and reval
Adjoint algorithmic differentiation can slash the computational time for valuation by three orders of magnitude. Luca Capriotti and Jacky Lee show how it can be applied to credit

Indian banks: Bond holders face bumpy ride
India's sickly state-owned banks – which are widely owned by international credit investors – could soon be downgraded to junk

Credit default swaps stop fire sales
Companies with credit default swaps have more liquid bonds and tighter spreads than those that don’t because investors can hold their bonds after a downgrade

Puerto Rico: The US basket case
Real-world credit may be a grim shock for Puerto Rico after years of government profligacy and tax breaks for US investors that kept its borrowing costs low

Spotlight on asset-based lending: a tale of uncomfortable bedfellows
When senior lenders share security with asset-based lenders they fret about the increased risk of default and lower recoveries

Reaching for yield distorts markets
It is well understood that many investment losses are caused by investors chasing yield. But the problem is more widespread than most realise

European directories: Hibu seeks lifeline online
Loans in the recently re-christened UK directories company have lost 80 per cent of their value as long term investors scramble for the exit

Preserving and conserving
Stable revenues, good liquidity and manageable leverage have kept yields in the consumer packaging sector steady in the long term

Credit spotlight: Still loving it
Leverage is high but the fast food sector is doing well even as consumer spending falls – so it’s no surprise that credit investors are tucking into large portions

Counterparty risk and funding: putting things together
Stéphane Crépey proposes an integrated mathematical approach to the related pricing, hedging/collateralisation and funding issues of CVA

Credit spotlight – Hot stuff
With the price of metallurgical coal tripling in a couple of years, coal credits are holding up well in turbulent markets.

Calculating risk in real time
Luca Capriotti, Jacky Lee and Matthew Peacock describe a new technique that can hugely reduce the time taken to calculate credit risk in a Monte Carlo simulation

A faster way to crunch CVA
Exposure sampling could provide a quicker, more effective way for banks to calculate their counterparty credit risk

High yield financials tempt brave buyers
Yield hungry investors are turning to US speciality financial companies in spite of their high debts and unresolved questions about their funding

Assenagon: the basis hunter
Negative basis used to be an easy trade. But now Munich-based credit manager Assenagon must hunt high and low for these elusive opportunities.

Riding out the storm
Order backlogs are helping major airliner manufacturers rise above the recession, but corporate jets have hit heavy weather

Sticking to first principles
When other credit hedge funds went long and levered, Brownstone Asset Management prospered by doing what a hedge fund should do.

Doing the right thing
Babson Capital is convinced that its fundamentals-based, long-term approach is the proper way to do business. It worked in the last cycle, and this is no time to look for short-term fixes. Facing their biggest test since the product emerged in the late 1990s, many CLO managers seem unsure how to confront an unprecedented decline in par values, soaring triple C buckets, rising defaults and the prospect of junior management fees being cut off. But the team that runs CLOs for one of the biggest and best established US managers has strong views about the right approach.

CLO trading strategies revealed
CLO trading strategies revealed

Insolvency: Germany: tough on failing companies
Insolvency: Germany: tough on failing companies

You don’t have to get sexy anymore to generate yield
You don’t have to get sexy anymore to generate yield

What the crisis means for credit
The financial world is in turmoil and plenty of people are blaming structured credit. Where does it go from here? Eight leading figures give their views

Keeping calm in credit
With its major backer sitting on a vast personal fortune, continuing access to cheap leverage and positive returns this year, it’s not surprising that Novator’s credit fund managers are more relaxed than most