Investments

A growing number of asset managers are waking up to the opportunity to lend to small and medium-sized companies, and much of this direct lending is making its way into the securitization market.

The four-year-old transaction is still in its original reinvestment period, but the collateral has had growing levels of defaulted and triple-C rated assets.

The spread on the AAA rated notes issued by KKR 23 CLO is unchanged from the manager's prior deal, but three of four subordinate tranches are priced wider than the June transaction.

Four new repriced portfolios from BlueMountain, CIFC, GoldenTree and HPS each exceeded 10x debt-to-equity ratio, compared to a three-month prior average of 9.16x on S&P rated deals.

Three of the loans backing the $868.4 million BSPRT 2018-FL4 representing 18.4% of the collateral are either still under construction or have yet to be redeveloped, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

While banking regulators are currently looking the other way when corporate debt packages exceed 6.0 leverage, that could easily change under a new administration or Congress.

A conflict between risk retention rules and prohibitions against self-dealing were limiting options for some lenders to hold skin in the game; a no-action letter issued to Golub Capital creates a "clear path" to compliance.

Tetragon Credit Income Partners is considering a move outside its niche CLO equity investment strategy in expanding its portfolio management team.

A former Federal Home Loan bank president argues that the system should limit its exposure to risky nonbanks.

The Boston-based firm has refinanced two existing deals within the last 10 months, but hasn't printed a new deal since October 2015, well before U.S. risk retention rules took effect.

The deal will be managed through its BDC, which formed a joint venture last December to fund PE-sponsored firms with unitranche corporate loans.

The deal, which Fitch did not name in its report, appears to be VCO CLO 2018-1. The agency said the transaction might not even merit a single-A rating, given the high single-sector concentration.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is not disclosing why it is retiring the $1B Palm Lane Credit Opportunities Fund; the fund was previously being considered for a spinoff.

The $300 million transaction has a six-month prefunding period during with the last $50 million of loans will be acquired; it can be actively managed for three years.

TCI Capital assigned two CLO deals totaling $1 billion that it was managing for Columbia Management Investment Advisers, after Columbia resigned its subadvisory role.

The GSE recently transferred $166 million portion of risk on $11.1 billion of loans via contracts with seven reinsurers and insurers; it plans to come to market two or three time a year going forward.

Collateralized loan obligations denominated in pounds sterling were once a tough sell; two recent deals from Barclays and PGIM indicate that this is changing.

The credit arm of the $24 billion asset H.I.G. Capital is marketing a $458.1 million BSL CLO, its first deal since April 2015.

The $408.4M Anchorage Capital CLO 2018-10 adds to the $5.2B-asset manager's 2018 tally of three re-issues and a refinancing — not to mention a debut European CLO.

The percentage of CCC "buckets" in CLOs increased in the second quarter and they are now at levels similar to 2016, when managers struggled with concentrations of troubled energy-sector assets.