CDOs/CLOs

Restricted from taking on distressed debt or debtor-in-possession loans, CLO managers are being left out of opportunities in coronavirus-related debt restructurings. "It's frustrating," says one manager. "We are supposed to be the bully, not the one being pushed around.”

Longstanding CLO manager Western Asset Management just priced its first deal of 2020, and despite the transaction's much more conservative structure, spreads doubled from its deal a year earlier.

The breakdown, described by people with knowledge of the relationship, is among the many scuffles emerging on Wall Street as the coronavirus pandemic pits distressed companies and their owners against lenders.

Four transactions from three managers, Alcentra, Barings and Bardin Hill, showed a breach of one or more of their so-called over-collateralization tests based on May filings.

Bain joins firms like Blackstone Group Inc., Oaktree Capital Group LLC and Carlyle Group Inc. in looking to capitalize on potential opportunities created by the coronavirus pandemic that has hammered businesses.

Leveraged loans and collateralized loan obligations do not represent an "existential" threat to the global economy or to the U.S. banking system, as some recent highly charged reports have suggested.

There are any number of reasons to fret about America’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis. A repeat financial collapse at the hands of a structured product with a similar sounding acronym isn’t one of them.

The subprime mortgage meltdown turned Pacific Investment Management Co. off the CLO business for a decade. Now the coronavirus crisis is luring it back.

The firm will offload parts of its business including its business development company, Garrison Capital Inc., and other credit vehicles.

Fitch Ratings is evaluating all 59 middle-market collateralized loan obligations it rates for potential downgrades, over concerns of the ability of small-business borrowers to support loan payments under COVID-19 stresses.