CDOs/CLOs

A wave of corporate loan refinancings is putting collateralized loan obligations afoul of a covenant designed to safeguard their own investors.

HPS Investment Partners is adding a new name to one of its legacy Highbridge CLOs, as well as piling on extensive changes to note structure, deal terms and restrictions on some higher-risk assets.

Just $7.6 billion of deals were refinanced or reset in September, bringing the total for the third quarter to $27.2 billion, far short of the pace of the first half, when approximately $138 billion was reworked.

A report released Friday calls risk retention "an imprecise mechanism" for encouraging the alignment of interest between sponsors and investors. It recommends creating loan-specific requirements under which managers would receive relief.

The $456.9 million LCCM 2017-FLI is secured by 19 commercial mortgages, the largest of them an amended and restated loan on Two Gateway, an office building in downtown Newark, New Jersey.

Penta CLO 3 is the first CLO since 2015 for the UK subsidiary of Swiss global asset management Partners Group Holdings AG.

Unlike the sponsor's previous transaction, which recycled collateral issued pre-crisis, this one includes newly issued securities intended to help small banks and insurance companies raise capital.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) and Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), is modeled on an exemption that allows sponsors of residential mortgage bonds to avoid holding risk in their deals.

The total includes over $78 billion in new transactions; collateralized loan obligations issued post-crisis have lmited exposure to Toys R Us, which filed for bankruptcy last week.

Regulatory relief remains uncertain, but there's plenty to celebrate as some more esoteric asset classes, such as franchise fees and aircraft leases, move into the mainstream, while others, such as nonprime RMBS, are starting to revive.