Apollo joins forces with Mubadala for big direct lending deals
Apollo Global Management has launched a ‘large scale direct lending’ platform, which it says is anchored by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company

Candriam agrees deal for Rothschild's European fund of fund business
Candriam has bought Rothschild’s “multi-management” business, representing €350 million of assets

MeDirect confirms corp credit step-back, as CLO team seeks spin-off
MeDirect has confirmed it will reduce corporate lending to focus on retail clients, following a question by Creditflux on the firm's plans to spin off its CLO-managing specialist credit team

Revolutionary ESG-linked loan wins CLO support
European loan investors welcomed a novel concept in June when Carlyle Group-backed Logoplaste issued the first term loan with pricing linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors

Calpers plans $80 billion leverage play to boost returns
California Public Employees’ Retirement System has outlined plans to boost returns for its nearly $400 billion portfolio in the long term. But the proposal, dubbed ‘towards a 7% solution’, has come under criticism

Governance has greatest impact on short-term changes in company valuation out of ESG factors, finds MSCI
Governance has more impact than environmental and social factors on company financial fundamentals and stock price in the short term, but ‘E’ and ‘S’ play their part over the long term, according to analysis from MSCI

Fund performance: CLO funds keep up the momentum for second month running
May returns have been led by continued momentum from CLO funds. In the last month, funds that invest in CLO notes in some capacity have made up 90% of our top 10, while 97% of funds listed generated positive returns - an improvement of 15% on last month's figures.

Credit funds at a glance (July 2020)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Ucits at a glance: Ucits recover lost ground
The foot has come off the gas for many funds - 57% of funds did not break the 2% return barrier.

Loan slump brings managers closer
A 19% slide in new US loan volumes last year has left CLO managers with fewer options in the primary market, and portfolio overlap between US managers has increased to 35.3% on average

Trading places: it can pay to bet on the little guy
It’s assumed investors know how good a CLO manager is by the rate at which they trade their way through a crisis. But this time fi ve small, nimble managers are outperforming the market

Managers prepare for new habits in post-lockdown world
A new world beckons as lockdown measures gradually loosen; one in which consumer behaviour has changed and credit investing will have to adjust. But it won’t be as easy as compartmentalising investments into ‘covid sectors’ and ‘non-covid sectors’.

They said it: Can I be a bond investor and invest in Netflix?
The response of a loan portfolio manager after we asked where should loan investors park their cash?

Canadian pension Imco outlines two-year $6 billion credit plans
The Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (Imco) has a range of credit strategies in its sights as it seeks to deploy $6 billion in the next two years as part of the build out of a global credit platform, according to officials at the company

Points up front: Channelling Twain, Agent Smith and Mike Tyson
Lockdown can adversely affect one’s grasp of reality, and for credit portfolio managers this has manifested itself in a penchant for quoting famous (sometimes fictional) figures

Morgan Stanley hires leveraged loan MD from Credit Suisse
Morgan Stanley has hired a leveraged loan managing director in London with over 15 years' market experience

US and Europe diverge as loan trading bands emerge on the continent
Europe and the US are on different courses with credit indices having drifted apart over the past month, say trading sources. Europe is expected to suffer fewer defaults to the extent that "it’s getting quite difficult for borrowers to default”, as one source put it. But the US has "higher growth potential due to its more dynamic economy"

Four managers join forces on gigantic £1.9 billion unitranche
The supersized transaction to Ardonagh Group, led by Ares, is the largest ever unitranche facility

Oaktree sets up North America sourcing and origination group
Oaktree intends for the platform to enhance its private credit sourcing and deal-origination capabilities

LP round-up: Champaign pension raises a glass (or bucket) to private credit
Institutional investors allocated over $600 million to 11 managers this week, according to board documentation seen by Creditflux

Zais ESG head to join DWS
Zais Group’s head of ESG (environmental, social, governance) and impact investing is joining DWS as group sustainability officer in New York

Bridgepoint buys EQT's credit business - report
Bridgepoint is buying the credit business of EQT, according to the Financial Times

CLOs dodge offshore driller as restructuring credit event question posed
The Americas Determinations Committee has been asked to rule on whether UK headquartered offshore driller Valaris has triggered a restructuring credit event

Cerberus raises $779 million for direct lending fund
Cerberus Business Finance is raising a new direct lending fund, according to regulatory filings

LP round-up: mighty Oaks win $1 billion apiece from Calpers
Credit investors allocated over $3 billion to 18 credit managers this week across a wide range of strategies