GSO/Blackstone Debt Funds Management earned the top spot in deal-count of U.S. CLO transactions by registering 28 deals totaling $13.3 billion in 2016, according to a tally of manager activity in the collateralized loan obligation market by Moody’s Investors Service.
GSO displaced Credit Suisse Asset Management, which had 27 deals but was still leading the manager tables in terms of overall volume ($16.2 billion), according to the report issued Tuesday.
MJX Asset Management was the lone newcomer to the top 10 list, finishing the year at No.6 with 20 deals totaling $10.5 billion that tied it with BlueMountain Capital Management, Octagon Credit Investors (owed by global investment management giant Conning), and Voya Investment Management.
The alternative asset management arm of PGIM was displaced from the 2015 top 10 tables by deal count, but was still ranked 10th on overall volume at $8.8 billion after placing two deals in the second half of 2016.
Dropping out of the U.S. top 10 on based on aggregate deal size was Golub Capital, which still had 19 deals to finish No. 10 by number of deals.
The share of asset volume by the top 10 managers was 29%, down only slightly from 31% the year prior.
Of managers with existing managed deals entering 2016, 42% brought new transactions to the market in the first half of the year and 52% by the second half of 2016.
Five new managers debuted deals in 2016: TCI Capital Management, Newfleet Asset Management, Maranon Capital, Park Avenue Institutional Advisors and TIAA Global Asset Management. In addition, Arrowpoint Asset Management issued its first Moody’s-rated deal in 2016.
In Europe, the top four managers based on deal count was unchanged from 2015: Alcentra Capital and The Carlyle Group ranked first with 16 deals, apiece, followed by GSO/Blackstone (13) and KKR (11). GSO/Blackstone was the leading issuer in terms of assets with €5.4 billion in new deals last year. Carlyle was second with $5 billion, followed by Alcentra’s €4.6 billion volume.
Globally, Carlyle finished first with 43 deals, while GSO/Blackstone finished first with US$19 billion worth of deals.
Moody’s rated 154 new U.S. deals from 72 managers in 2016, totaling $70.5 billion in assets under management. That brought Moody’s overall outstanding deal coverage to 897 U.S. CLOs from 138 managers, amounting to $405.3 billion in AUM.
Moody’s also rated 23 European deals totaling €9.2 billion in AUM, managed by 22 firms. Newcomers to the Euro market included Accunia Credit Management Fondsmæglerselskab A/S and Och-Ziff Europe
Loan Management Ltd.
