CDOs/CLOs

Buyers of broadly syndicated corporate loans currently have an incentive to drag their feet closing trades; they will soon pay a hefty price if they don’t do their part. The reform should help lenders get assets off their books faster.

European CLO manager CVC Credit Partners is preparing its first broadly syndicated loan portfolio of 2016 that will issue €400 million (US$447.3 million) in euro-denominated bonds.

LCM Asset Management, American Capital and Telos Asset Management added three collateralized loan obligations totaling nearly $1 billion to the new issue pipeline Friday, according to rating agency reports.

Octagon Investment Partners’ new CLO is its first leveraged loan collateralization since September, as well as its debut portfolio being acquired last November by global insurance asset firm Conning.

Despite months of concerns over the credit standing for troubled Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the specialty pharmaceutical company remains the single-largest obligor in collateralized loan obligation holdings.

U.S. CLO issuance remained muted in February, with just five deals pricing totaling $2.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters LPC. However that was an increase from the $826 million from two deals posted in January.

The Securities and Exchange Commissioner took to the podium in the convention center of the Aria Resort & Casino to express to attendees his admiration for the economic benefits of securitization – and his disagreement with the risk-retention regulatory regime that has enveloped it.

The sharp selloff in leveraged loans has created opportunity for some CLO managers, particularly those with deep pockets. Managers that can quickly acquire loans at a discount in the secondary market can still make money bundling them into collateral for bonds.

Moody’s Investors Service’s ranking of the top 10 managers of collateralized loan obligations at year-end 2015 was largely unchanged from mid-year, both in terms of deal count or AUM. But the biggest players collectively lost some market share to their mid-sized brethren.

Well, something has to. For proponents of modernization and greater efficiency in the syndicated loan, bond, swaps, and private placement markets, it’s well past time to put investors, banks, brokers and borrowers on the same technological page.