CLOs

Investment firms and hedge funds are increasingly engineering bankruptcy loans and side deals to take control of Chapter 11 reorganizations from the outset, locking in rich rewards for themselves while potentially locking out rivals and lower-ranking creditors with little transparency. The trend is sure to speed up cases, but it also forces judges to make quick decisions that may shortchange some valid claims.

Promising vaccines may not reach the general public fast enough to save a number of struggling companies next year, and workout professionals and distressed investors are expecting smaller private companies will search for cash in 2021. They’re also anticipating that businesses of all sizes may struggle to adjust to changing consumer habits in a post-pandemic world.

Risk premiums for new transactions, which package and sell leveraged loans into tranches of varying risk and potential return, have tightened to pre-pandemic levels and Wall Street predicts a rise in sales in 2021.

Deals, trends and research in structured finance and asset-backed securities for the week of Nov. 28-Dec. 3

DCI, which oversees about $7.5 billion in assets, will become a part of Blackstone’s $135 billion GSO operation, which was recently rechristened Blackstone Credit.

York Capital Management told its investors this week that it was all but getting out of the hedge-fund business to focus on its $8.5 billion in longer-term products.

U.S. bankruptcy filings have slowed nearly to a halt, but they’re expected to pick up next year, led by companies that piled on debt to survive this year’s pandemic and election-related volatility.

CLO manager Brigade Capital Management has refinanced several tranches of notes to improve the spreads and boost the tranches' ratings.

Owl Rock Technology Advisors, the same team supporting other Owl Rock CLOs, has launched an inaugural middle market CLO that is continuing the CLO manager's tradition of spreading underwriting responsibilities among a variety of banks.

A spike in coronavirus infections through the U.S. holiday shopping season could trigger more bankruptcies from retailers, even after the biggest surge in Chapter 11 filings on record this year.