CLOs: Risks and Opportunities
News reached us from Mars of the first powered Earth aircraft to fly on another planet. Ingenuity, a helicopter with four foot wide blades (and carrying a small swatch from the original Wright Brothers bi-plane), hovered at ten feet for 30 seconds then came back down.
“What the Ingenuity team has done,” a NASA official said, “is give us the third dimension.”
Here on Earth CLOs are also three-dimensional. Their capital structures start with the least risky, lowest-spread debt at the top of the cash flow waterfall, to more risky, higher-spread liabilities and equity at the bottom. There are also active primary and secondary markets for these investments, with spreads depending on market conditions…
▶︎ Read Apr 19 2021 newsletter: here
▶︎ Chart of the Week: here (by S&P Global Ratings, US CLO and Leverage Finance Update Q2 2021)
Latest news
PE fund distribution rates
Following 2021, buyout distribution rates have fallen to roughly 10% to 15% below the 25-year average.
Sub line pricing flattens
A report on the topic also finds that investors are less concerned by leverage in NAV loans. Pricing for subscription…