CLO Research

Please refer to the table in this article for a list of managers and the number of resets conducted on their BSL CLO deals since mid-2023, organized by vintage.

All things being equal, lower mezzanine tranche investors typically prefer to own deals with a higher probability of being reset.

It could be assumed that managers with higher Weighted Average Spreads (WAS) are likely to present a higher collateral risk profile and, on average, face greater realised and unrealised principal losses when adjusted for vintage. Conversely, more conservative managers with lower WAS tend to display greater resilience, resulting in lower levels of principal loss, also adjusted for vintage. However, as illustrated in the table below, the median reported WAS metrics across the four quartiles by MVOC are very close, ranging from 3.94% to 3.96%, indicating that reported WAS appears to have limited influence on MVOC performance.

The table below presents the percentile breakdown of fixed-rate exposure for each quartile, classified by MVOC metrics based on asset...

A sample of 1,523 US BSL CLO deals (vintage 2013–2023) is included in this study. Deals with a collateral pool...

It might be assumed that managers with higher Weighted Average Spreads (WAS) tend to carry a higher collateral risk profile...

The estimated final equity IRRs for GoldenTree Loan Management EUR CLO 3 and Harvest CLO XIX are approximately...

It might be assumed that managers with higher Weighted Average Spreads (WAS) tend to carry a higher collateral risk profile and, on average, experience greater realised and unrealised principal losses when adjusted for vintage. Conversely, more conservative managers with lower WAS often demonstrate greater resilience, leading to lower levels of principal loss, also adjusted for vintage. However, a lower WAS does not always indicate a cleaner US BSL CLO collateral pool.

Market Value Over-Collateralization (MVOC), for instance, at the BB tranche level, is calculated by dividing the collateral market value (MV) by the sum of CLO liabilities (AAA to BB). MVOC is a crucial point-in-time metric for pricing CLO-rated tranches, closely monitored by primary and secondary market participants.

The loan index’s moving 4-week average discounted spreads are used as a proxy for the EU CLO portfolios’ discounted spreads....

What do investors prefer? Generally, they seek managers who maximise the value of the collateral pool, rather than selling CCC assets simply to reduce CCC exposure artificially or to gain short-term OC ratio advantages. Ideally, managers would also consistently steer clear of credits that become problematic.

A sample of 67 reset US BSL CLO deals that were priced this year, each with fresh equity injections, is included in this study. The table in this article presents a breakdown of equity injections by manager, shown in terms of notional value, along with the corresponding increase in collateral notional post-reset. This is adjusted to reflect the portion of collateral notional funded by the rise in CLO-rated debt notional. In total, around $1.7 billion in equity notional was injected into these 67 deals. Many of these upsized reset deals have been outstanding for some time and no longer resemble the clean collateral pools they had at issuance. Consequently, part of the new equity capital was allocated to support the reset structure and cover the upfront costs associated with the reset. As a result, original equity investors in some of these reset deals may experience significant dilution of their holdings. Fair pricing of additional equity is crucial to maintaining balance between the original and new equity capital.

The table below presents the pre-reset adjusted triple-C exposure, AAA factor, par loss, and equity NAV for reset deals from the 2014 to 2020 vintages, priced this year.

Please refer to the table below for key metrics of deals just before and after a reset priced in 2024.

To calculate the total/MV/interest return alpha, we begin by determining the total/MV/interest investment return for each complete period, such as from a deal’s closing date to the most recent reporting date. This is achieved by compounding the portfolio’s monthly (or periodic) total/MV/interest return since the closing date. We then annualise the total/MV/interest portfolio return and compare it with the annualised return of the index. The difference represents the total/MV/interest return alpha, as illustrated here.