Elfa adds to ESG fact sheet range in standardisation drive
The European Leveraged Finance Association (Elfa) will shortly publish sector-specific fact sheets for the transport and healthcare industries, sources say, bringing its total of ESG fact sheets to 12

"Technology won’t replace human judgement. In ESG a qualitative review is necessary"
The social aspect of ESG must be given sufficient weight in investment decisions  

"We should be mindful of the transfer of power to the C-suite that inheres in ESG"
As shareholder returns become one factor among many, the C-suite becomes more powerful  

Partners prints five-year European CLO with ESG-scored deal
Partners becomes second European CLO manager to breakthrough the five year reinvestment period

Blackstone and Credit Suisse among participants in talks for new ESG loan index
European leveraged loan market participants – including Blackstone and Credit Suisse – are said to be in the process of launching the ESG loan index

Partners joins ESG-scoring CLO managers but standardisation doubts persist
Partners will implement its scoring system across its European CLOs, US CLOs and non-CLO funds

Climate change pair trade delivers as oil companies' CDS widens
A climate change pair trade proposed by Anthropocene in March has come good with Norwegian oil company Equinor’s CDS outperforming Total, a French oil company

Key counterparties make charitable donation as part of new CIFC CLO
CIFC Asset Management’s new US CLO, CIFC Funding 2021-IV, is linked to support for racial justice initiatives, officials working on the transaction have told Creditflux

"The lack of standardised ESG data creates opportunities for data-driven investors"
Investors can gain an edge by using technology to help parse ESG data

CLOs seem like Premier League members in the world of finance
The CLO industry is in a privileged position and can wield its power to do good  

Investor uses Paris Agreement as template for ESG language
Lupus Alpha Asset Management is supporting the advance of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria in European CLOs by embedding language into deal documentation that is linked to the European Union Paris-aligned Benchmark (which derives from the Paris Climate Agreement).

ESG factors show up in leveraged loan pricing in US
Environmental, social, and corporate governance factors are filtering through to the US CLO market and influencing loan prices

Carlyle and Aflac officials lead new ACC committee with ESG template outlined as priority
The Alternative Credit Council has launched an ‘investor manager committee’, chaired by Carlyle Group’s Erica Frontiero and Elena Boeva from Aflac Global Investments, that has ESG in private credit as one of its first orders of business

BlackRock wins €400 million ESG private debt mandate
BlackRock has won a mandate to manage an ESG focused European private debt fund from a Munich-based firm

"The heterogeneous set of KPIs make comparisons difficult and self-policing hurts credibility"
Loans with ESG ratchets are popular and a good way to align incentives – but we need accountable external reviewers

Hermes seeks ESG alpha in companies making changes
Buy-side demand to tick boxes for ESG standards has fuelled a boom in green and social impact bonds that is extending into high yield issuance. But as investment opportunities mount, so does soul-searching about the next phase

Fund managers brace for EU’s new sustainability regulations
European fund managers were faced with new environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) regulations in March, which enhance disclosure requirements around sustainability

Allstate CLO takes on ESG guidelines following reset
Fair Oaks Capital has laid claim to the first instance of converting a US CLO into an ESG-compliant transaction courtesy of a reset following the reworking of Aimco 2017-A this week

A transformational framework means fund managers have to drive real-world change
There are managers who make transformational investments, those who incorporate ESG and those who do nothing

Axa IM leads as ESG grows in European CLO industry
European CLOs are increasingly launching with express ESG mandates embedded as issuers seek to get ahead of what appears to be an inevitable shift towards ethical investing

UN PRI's upcoming report on ESG in CLOs finds bar is very low
In a preview of the upcoming report, Carmen Nuzzo, head of fixed income at UN Principles for Responsible Investment, reveals to Creditflux key highlights from its ESG in securitisation report

ESG growth in CLOs has momentum in 2021, say JPM strategists
ESG investing in securitised products such as CLOs have 'momentum for growth in 2021' despite very slow volume growth and lack of progress in standardised scoring over the past year, say JP Morgan strategists in a research note

Tikehau launches ESG private debt fund with interest rate ratchets
The European Investment Fund has backed Tikehau's private debt fund, Tikehau Impact Lending, which provides lower interest rates to companies that meet their sustainability goals

ESG was factor when firing managers for 42% of investors, survey reveals
The latest survey from investment consultant Bfinance shows the coronavirus pandemic increased focus on ESG issues for over a third of investors - and ESG is important when selecting external asset managers