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

Loan slump brings managers closer

CSAM scores market tights with first new US CLO for over six months
Senior CLO spreads tightened as Credit Suisse Asset Management brought its first new issue CLO of the year, according to market sources

CLO pipeline: manager prepares crowning return as primary market gets busy
CLO secondary prices have rallied hard in recent weeks, providing impetus for the new issue deal pipeline to fill up quickly. But one surprise is that Western Asset Management has chosen this moment to return to the primary CLO market, after several years' absence

Global CLO b-wic round-up: US triple Bs edge wider but 2020 bonds trade at a premium
The furious rally that the secondary CLO markets have gone through over the last two weeks was brought a halt by the Federal Reserve’s reminder on Wednesday night that all is still not well with the economy

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

Euro CLO investors look to cash in as market confidence returns
A mixed b-wic comprised of €35 million European CLO tranches is on offer at 9.30am New York time Tuesday, with investors looking to capitalise on tightening spreads as confidence gradually returns to the market

OC health check: some CLOs cure failures, but quarter of US deals still in breach
117 deals failed over-collateralisation tests in the last week, although only 46 of these were deals reporting breaches for the first time, according to the latest reports available on CLO-i

Akorn falls into bankruptcy with $321 million planted in CLOs
CLOs hold $321.3 million of specialty pharmaceutical company Akorn’s debt, according to the latest trustee reports from CLO-I, with the firm having filed for chapter 11 protection in the US District Court for the District of Delaware yesterday

Global CLO b-wic round up: dealer bid strengthens secondary CLO market across the board
The US CLO secondary market had over $1 billion listed in b-wics last week, the first time at this level in three weeks according to CLO-i. A further €270 million went on sale in the European CLO secondary market, as the dealer bid returned to assist in continued tightening across the capital stack

Who’s got the moves US: oil and gas leads renaissance for US CLO managers
The US leveraged loan market has held steady over the last two weeks. After rising to just below 87 of par in mid-April, the S&P LSTA US Leveraged Loan index closed at 85.75 to start this week

Global CLO b-wic round-up: spreads tighten across the board as bond-flex CLOs trade well
Price levels have tightened and, more importantly, stabilised across the secondary CLO market over the last two weeks, but the Easter break led to a drop off in CLO b-wic supply

CSAM holds second close on drawdown CLO fund
Credit Suisse Asset Management is set to hold a second close on a CLO fund it launched late last year.

Beneath the triple C: $31.6 billion of CLO credits feel downgrade pain
March madness took a toll on CLOs as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s downgraded 4.25% of the portfolios in the US and 1.84% in Europe to triple C or below in just one month (some of these were already triple C rated, only to fall further).

Kayne Anderson CLO trades high as double A investors factor in portfolio health
Demand for high quality mezzanine US CLO paper is picking up, according to trader sources, with the most sought after single As trading at about 425 basis points and the best triple Bs trading at 670bp towards the end of last week

Investors query loan b-wic objectives as trade rates plummet
Over €1 billion worth of loan paper has appeared in the form of European loan b-wics in March, according to market sources. But buyer appetite has been low

Triple A spreads widen by over 30bp since February as CSAM prices euro CLO
European CLO spreads have blown out to their widest levels in almost four years. Sources say that Credit Suisse Asset Management priced its latest deal, named Madison Park Euro Funding XV, today with the triple As clearing at a blended spread of 122.68 basis points over Euribor

Beneath the triple C: mighty CLO buckets from Akorns grow
Rating agencies went on a downgrading spree in February, with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s cutting 20 corporate names to triple C or below – affecting $2.78 billion of paper in US CLOs and €316.6 million in European CLOs. 

Global CLO b-wic round-up: sellers flock to secondary market as trade rate hits 71%
The broader market sell-off reached CLOs last week, with investors lining up to list their positions in the CLO secondary market

CLO refinancing auction draws plaudits despite failure to clear
A novel approach to refinancing a CLO failed to clear, despite optimism behind the concept.

ESG pervades US CLOs but screening approach divided
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is reshaping the US CLO market, with February bringing the first CLOs marketed that have explicit ESG-related investment criteria.

US CLO league tables: $2 billion reissue fires Apollo and JP Morgan to top spots
Apollo Global Management and JP Morgan teamed up to price the largest CLO of the 2.0 era in February that helped propel both to the top of the US CLO and global CLO league tables

Another $1.68 billion of US CLO paper is refied
Four CLO refis worth $1.68 billion priced on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, with the 2017 vintage still appearing the most attractive

Back from the dead: CLO risk retention resurfaces in the US
Risk retention is making an unexpected comeback in the US CLO market as more managers look to structure their deals to comply with European risk retention regulations

MUFG and CSAM adopt novel auction concept for upcoming CLO refi
Credit Suisse Asset Management and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group are taking a fresh approach to US CLO refinancings with sources indicating that the pair are joining forces to conduct a refi via an auction