Weekly Musings – Emerging EU CLO Managers
Given the relatively modest management fees, CLO managers—particularly emerging ones—need to continue growing their collateral assets under management, as both...
Given the relatively modest management fees, CLO managers—particularly emerging ones—need to continue growing their collateral assets under management, as both...
The table below lists the top 100 US CLO managers, along with their BSL and MM CLO assets under management (rather than CLO liabilities) as of 31 March 2025. The final two columns show the average annual growth in total and BSL CLO AUM (in billions). Notably, 33 managers have grown their BSL CLO AUM by more than $1 billion per year since pricing their first deal.
Please see the table below for the full list of 71 EU CLO managers and the trends in their EU CLO collateral assets under management (as opposed to CLO liabilities) since 31 December 2017. Several emerging managers have successfully expanded their EU CLO AUM to over €1 billion since pricing their first deal in 2023. As at 31 March 2025, notable examples include Arini Capital Management with over €2 billion in AUM, Sona Asset Management with €1.8 billion, Signal Capital with €1.7 billion, Canyon Capital with €1.4 billion, M&G Investment Management with €1.2 billion, and AllianceBernstein with €1.3 billion.
The table below lists the top 100 US BSL CLO managers, ranked by their US BSL CLO assets under management (as opposed to CLO liabilities) as at 31 March 2025.
The table below shows the list of US MM CLO managers, ranked by their US MM CLO assets under management (rather than CLO liabilities) as at 31 March 2025.
Last week’s BWIC lists included four majority equity trades according to SCI BWIC data, with cover bids ranging from the single digits to the high 40s. These levels implied an average equity IRR of around 6.6% for primary investors, assuming an issue price of $95. The trades comprised two 2017 vintage deals, one from 2018, and one from 2022.
Of the 80 largest US CLO managers, 18 have a highly favourable CLO AUM breakdown by reinvestment period (RP), with less than 5% of their total US CLO AUM outside of RPs.
A sample of 1,405 US BSL CLO deals (vintage 2013–2023) is included in this study. Deals with a collateral pool...
A sample of 492 EU CLO deals (vintage 2013–1H 2024) is included in this study. Deals with a collateral pool...
With the rally in loan prices, the number of US BSL CLO deals with negative equity NAV has declined from 317 to 168 since 21 April 2025. Among single-B tranches, the number with a market value over-collateralisation (MVOC) below 100% has fallen from 169 to 126 over the same period.
In year-to-date 2025 and throughout 2024, managers have, on average, broadly tracked the loan index across all three inception-to-date annualised metrics: total return, market value (MV) return, and interest return. The benchmark loan index used is the Morningstar LSTA U.S. B/BB Ratings Loan Index. Nonetheless, several managers—such as OHA, Golub Capital, and UBS AM—have continued to distinguish themselves with above-average inception-to-date alpha since 2020, while others have consistently lagged behind the index.
Since January 2020, OHA has generated impressive, above-average inception-to-date total return alpha, driven by its consistent focus on minimising portfolio losses. This approach relies on rigorous, ongoing credit research and the regular application of that analysis to portfolio re-optimisation. The manager’s investment strategy is built on the belief that close collaboration across industry teams and integrated access to all asset classes within leveraged finance provide a robust foundation for research and portfolio construction.
US CLO Manager Report: Elmwood Asset Management