CDOs/CLOs

Many raised large amounts of capital to put to work in the equity, or riskiest slices of their deals, allowing them to resume issuing new deals just as new loan issuance was taking off.

Exposure to PetSmart's now triple-C rated loan will strain the distressed debt limits of 24 collateralized loan obligations, while two other deals face potential interest-diversion test failures.

Banking regulatory agencies Thursday announced that they would raise the aggregate loan commitment threshold for syndicated loans to be included in the Shared National Credit program from $20 million to $100 million.

Only 2.6% of speculative-grade rated firms with public financials carry Moody's weakest liquidity rating, a drastic reduction since March 2016, helped by a recovery in the oil and gas sector.

The collateralized loan obligation market is ending the year at nearly full throttle with nearly $18 billion in new deal/refi volume month-to-date, with more on the way.

The first refinancing, in January, was primarily intended to extend the life of the post-reinvestment period deal; this time, the manager is also lowering the interest paid.

Lee Shaiman, who oversaw $20 billion in leveraged finance and other fixed-income investments at Blackstone, will succeed Bram Smith. who announced his retirement in early 2017.

The collateralized loan obligation manager launched a fifth 2017 U.S. deal totaling $510 million, while its European subsidiary is preparing a third transaction totaling €400 million.

The $12.9 billion in collateralized loan obligations issued last month brings the 11-month total to $108 billion, just shy of the 2014 record of $124 billion.

Three broadly syndicated deals printed in December have senior, AAA-rated tranches that pay just 107 basis points over Libor - the lowest coupon of the year.