Tikehau and Churchill form direct lending partnership to 'expand cross border footprints'
European direct lending specialist Tikehau and US direct lending experts Churchill announced late December that the pair formed a partnership to ‘expand their respective cross border direct lending footprints’

Sharp reversal for banks, travel and commodity firms as EU shuts borders
About a month's worth of improvement in high yield credit spreads - and nearly two months in investment grade - has been wiped out today, with European countries banning flights from the UK and Brexit talks missing a key deadline

All types of financing will have to incorporate ESG risks and use their real economy influence
Fund managers can no longer ignore, postpone or hide from measures to tackle climate change

Fidelity prints first five-year CLO since March
Fidelity Investments has priced its first five-year reinvestment CLO post-covid, according to market sources. The deal, named Ballyrock CLO 14, is the largest of the manager's three 2020 CLOs as well as its second consecutive deal to be arranged by Barclays

Virus-impacted sectors may suffer greater distress in Europe than in the US
Investors may take different paths to capture positive convexity in US and European credit markets in 2021

Sound Point completes two CLO transactions in a day
Sound Point Capital Management has completed two US CLO primary market transactions in the space of a single day, teaming with Barclays to print its latest new issue offering and later with Goldman Sachs to refinance the triple A notes of a CLO post-reinvestment period

LCM returns to CLO new issues after 21-month gap
LCM Asset Management returned to the CLO primary market on Friday with its first new issue since March 2019

MJX joins CLO market trend towards floating rate refis
Pre-covid style CLO refinancings are continuing to make their longawaited comeback as MJX Asset Management became the latest manager to execute a mult-tranche floating rate refi in December

Redding Ridge prices its largest CLO of 2020 with first five-year deal post-covid
Redding Ridge Asset Management priced its sixth - and largest - new CLO of 2020 on Friday, naming the $520.71 million transaction RR 12

Perhaps 2021 will be the first year of the next expansion
For 2021, our columnist is focused on Libor transitions, CLO flexibility and loan managers fighting among themselves

CLO issuers flex their bond muscles
Some panellists at Creditflux’s US CLO Investor Summit pointed to structural difficulties, but the consensus was that flexibility — particularly the ability to buy bonds — could improve performance

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

CLO M&A to pick up with underperformers at risk
CLO manager consolidation is expected to be elevated into 2021 as the market recovers from the aftershock of covid-19

CLO 2021 outlook: back to the 'old' normal with volumes, spreads and structures to revert to pre-covid levels
Predictions went out the window this year because, well, who in December 2019 could have foreseen a pandemic devastating lives and wrecking financial markets? But the emergence of vaccines to combat the threat of the coronavirus has spurred a rally in credit over the last month. And CLO researchers expect a resurgence in 2021 with US new issue CLO volumes predicted to hit the $80-110 billion range, according to reports analysed by Creditflux.

New valuation rules to 'severely limit' fixed income cross trades
Law firm Practus believes that new SEC rules will limit a fund’s ability to cross-trade fixed income investments after the regulator adopted fund valuation rules in December

CLO managers gain time with Libor deadline extension
US CLO issuers have been given legroom ahead of the transition away from Libor, but as one CLO investor puts it: “While it’s an important development for the CLO market because it alleviates some of the Libor stress, it does not make the problem go away.”

All’s well that ends well in 2020 OC tests
Swathes of CLOs failed over-collateralisation tests last year, but unlike the drawn-out recovery following the 2008 financial crisis, the return to compliance after the covid-19 crash was rapid 

Fund performance: CLOs look to continue recovery with end of the year in sight
CLO funds claim the majority of positions in our top 10

Ucits at a glance: Year-to-date returns head for double figures
Ucits funds generally performed well in October as 75% achieved positive returns

Credit funds at a glance (January 2021)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

CLOs at a glance (January 2021)
A listing of CLOs that have priced in the last month

Credit hedge funds (January 2021)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Vaccine boosts credit as PE firms open up to bridge loans
The leveraged loan and CLO markets ended 2020 on a long-awaited high after multiple vaccines for covid-19 were rubber-stamped by regulators

Signs of new dawn as tranche volumes smash past $250bn
Last year, people formed fresh habits as they adapted to the coronavirus pandemic. Similarly, in credit, a breakthrough year for the CDS tranche market is leading participants to believe that elevated tranche volumes are here to stay

Past returns: Barclays gambles and wins on Zohar
Five years ago in Creditflux, we reported how Barclays had made gains from its investment in the debt of Zohar CLO I, a deal which was filed into bankruptcy by manager Patriarch Partners a few months earlier