Keep calm and buy corporate loans
Calm heads prevailed in 2018. Markets were volatile and risk retention was supposed to cause problems, but there was no need to panic and volumes went on to break records set in 2014

Retail fund pain is a CLO manager’s gain
Retail funds dumped loans in record volumes late in 2018, creating ideal conditions for CLOs to capitalise with performing credits available in the mid-90s for the first time in years

Loan volumes fall in Europe but rise in US
European CLO managers seem to be eating into the loan market with more appetite than their, US counterparts, who are perhaps spoiled for choice. But background risks lurk in both markets

Buy and hold isn’t only option for CLO equity
New US CLO equity is being more regularly flipped into b-wics. Figures suggest that equity pieces of 2017 and 2018 US deals made up 22% of the b-wic market over the past four quarters

Widening whisks market back to 2017
Right now, CLO volumes are healthy and the list of active managers is steadily growing. But with CLO liability spreads reverting to where they were a year ago, some issuers are a little nervous.

New issues keep managers busy in summer season
New issue loans made up 74.1% of volumes in August, supporting US CLO managers looking to ramp up. Spreads tightened to 368bp, but managers can’t complain — it’s much better than in Q1

Loan market finds balance as spreads edge wider
New issue volumes were robust in July with relatively few loan refinancings getting done. Loan portfolio managers say the loan market is finally balanced, having been in favour of borrowers

Who predicted $145 billion of issuance?
That went better than expected: US risk retention came in, and $145 billion of global new issuance later, it’s clear that CLOs aren’t disappearing. By Tanvi Gupta and Sam Robinson

Managers pick spots on CLO curve
As refi volumes slowed through 2017, the term curve for CLOs steepened, leading managers to vary their deal tenors as they sought to hit the evolving sweet spot.

CLO managers return to new issues
The frenetic pace of refis and resets slowed in the third quarter as CLO managers – new and old – turned their attention to building assets