Buzzy new names in credit like Arini, the hedge fund set up by former Credit Suisse Group AG star trader Hamza Lemssouger, and Sona Asset Management have been marketing their first European CLO deals. In the US, several new managers have sold deals recently, while private lender Antares Capital sold its first deal backed by broadly syndicated loans in August. See table for deal details.
Profits have also been squeezed for CLO managers over the past year. The lack of M&A meant they’ve had to turn to the secondary market, where loan prices have been rising. That mismatch between loan and bond prices hurt the arbitrage opportunity for CLOs — the gap between the yields CLO managers can earn on the loans they buy, and what they pay to finance themselves with the riskiest securities they issue known as equity.
“The new CLO platforms are hopeful that when economic activity resumes and therefore new loan supply resumes, they will be fully ramped up to operate,” said Kos Vavelidis, a finance partner at DLA Piper. “Firms are taking steps now to build their platforms and their names in the market.”A key metric — CLO spreads — is already starting to improve.