CDOs/CLOs

A combination of loosened covenants, minimal call protections and aggressive, U.S.-style “dry powder” leveraging strategies have produced the most sponsor-friendly market for European leveraged loans since the financial crisis, according to a new report from U.S.-based Covenant Review.

Marble Point Credit Management of Greenwich, Conn. has acquired the CLO platform of American Capital Credit Management.

Institutional refinancing in the fourth quarter, and continued high investor demand, drove a 12% surge in year-over-year U.S. leveraged lending in 2016 to $875 billion.

Issuance of U.S. collateralized loan obligations is likely to get off to a slow start in 2017.

Moody’s Investors Service has confirmed or downgraded the structured finance ratings on 16 “combo” note CLO tranches this month.

Last week the European arm of Pinebridge Investments refinanced the Euro-Galaxy III CLO, a collateralized loan obligation originally issued in 2013, to reprice the entire transaction, according to Standard & Poor's.

LCM is almost completely overhauling its $465.5 million LCM XIII portfolio in ways beyond just extending its reinvestment period so as to preserve an exemption from forthcoming U.S. risk-retention rules.

A whopping 15 U.S. CLO deals priced in the first week of December, pushing issuance levels above 2015 activity as managers push to complete collateralized loan transactions before the onset of risk-retention requirements.

Many CLO managers would welcome a repeal of the soon-to-be enforced risk-retention requirement on deals. But while he sees 5% as slight "overkill," Crestline Denali Capital executive John Thacker sees merit in having skin in the game with investors.

MidCap Financial Services is marketing $251.7 million securitization of loans to life sciences and real estate companies.