Two weeks after Citigroup priced a $525 million CLO and a week after Orix, Apollo and GSO Blackstone all started arranging their own CLOs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has begun arranging a $500 million CLO.
The CLO will be managed by Symphony Asset Management and be called the Symphony CLO VII.
Moody’s Investors Service has given a $317 million potion of the portfolio a 'Aaa' rating, its highest rating, and a $113 million portion a 'Ba2' rating, which is two notches below investment grade. The CLO, like the CLO Citi arranged, will consist of refinanced loans.
Symphony is based in San Francisco and is a unit of Nuveen Investments. It manages approximately $8 billion in leveraged loans, high yield bonds and other securities.
The Citi CLO, named the COA Tempus CLO is being managed by WCAS Fraser Sullivan Investment Management, which was formed in 2007 with the backing of private equity firm Welsh, Carson Anderson & Stowe.
