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Seasoned US BSL CLO Managers: Inception-to-date Alpha Trends

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.

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Secondary US BSL CLO AAA: Top-Tier Print at 150a

Late last week, approximately $240 million of long-dated AAA tranches (with reinvestment periods ending between 2029-2030) changed hands, as shown in the table below. Top-tier prints were mainly in the 150 DM area. For example, MAGNE 2024-42A A1 traded with a cover bid of 150 DM.

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Key Ingredients for Long-Term CLO Equity Outperformance

A more objective way to evaluate a manager’s capability is by examining the inception-to-date gross annualised collateral return of their deals, measured relative to the relevant loan indices and assessed on an unlevered basis. This provides a clearer measure of true alpha generation.

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How EU CLO Managers Have Performed Since Inception Relative to the Loan Index

How Have EU CLO Managers Stacked Up Against the Loan Index Since Inception? This study examines the long-term performance of 218 EU CLO deals from the 2015–2019 vintages, using the Morningstar European Euro-Denominated Loan Index as the benchmark. As of 19 March 2025, EU CLO managers, on average, had outperformed the loan index on an inception-to-date basis—driven primarily by principal value return outperformance—while their interest return remained broadly in line with that of the index.

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Insights from Generate Advisors

According to independent analysis by CLO Research, Generate Advisors has consistently delivered outperformance against the Morningstar LSTA U.S. B/BB Ratings Loan Index on an unlevered basis in recent years. Here’s a set of interview questions from CLO Research, accompanied by responses from Rizwan Akhter, Head of Generate Advisors.

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***Insights from Redding Ridge Europe***

According to CLO Research’s independent analysis, RRAM has delivered consistently robust results from both equity and debt perspectives. Here’s a set of interview questions from CLO Research, accompanied by responses from Bhavin Patel, Chief Investment Officer of Redding Ridge Europe.

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EU CLOs: Annualised Prepayment Rates During Post-RP by Manager

CLO equity investors generally prefer slower prepayment rates in the early years after the reinvestment period, as this helps sustain favourable leverage within the structure and supports more efficient funding costs. Moreover, it provides equity investors with additional time to assess the optimal call timing, which has proven particularly valuable in today’s robust market environment. For instance, a deal that exited its reinvestment period in 2022 and experienced a very rapid post-reinvestment period annual prepayment rate, leading to significant deleveraging, would have been under greater pressure to be called at a time when market conditions were less favourable than they are today.

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***Insights from Golub Capital***

According to CLO Research’s independent analysis, Golub Capital has delivered consistently strong results from an investment alpha perspective. Specifically, Golub Capital has achieved substantial outperformance relative to the Morningstar LSTA U.S. B/BB Ratings Loan Index on an unlevered basis over the past several years. Below is a list of interview questions from CLO Research, along with responses from Scott M. Morrison, Managing Director and Head of Broadly Syndicated Loans.

EU Module (Subscription Required)

Post-2013 EU CLO Equity IRRs by Vintage

Drawing from a sample of 87 EU CLO deals that have either been redeemed or are expected to reach full redemption shortly, equity tranches from the 2020, 2022, and 2023 vintages have delivered notable final IRRs, underpinned by robust equity NAV metrics. As illustrated in the table, their average equity NAVs surpassed 100%, underscoring strong performance.

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EU CLO Managers: Rankings Based on MVOC (BB)

A sample of 496 EU CLO deals (vintage 2013–2023) is included in this study. Deals with a collateral pool factor below 60% are excluded. 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. If you’re curious to explore our premium insights or would like a personal walkthrough of the website via Zoom, feel free to reach out at info@clopremium.co.uk.

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US CLO Managers: Varying Prepayment Rates in the Post-Reinvestment Period

While each CLO deal is different, understanding the historical prepayment rates based on the original collateral balance during the post-RI period for each manager remains highly beneficial. Analyzing these rates offers insights into the tendencies of different managers, highlighting those who consistently achieve lower prepayment rates and those who tend to experience higher rates in the post-reinvestment phase. To illustrate these trends, the following table presents the average first-year, second-year, and third-year annualized prepayment rates for each manager, based on data from their seasoned deals that have passed their reinvestment end dates. These historical post-RI prepayment rates could be useful as cash flow modeling inputs for each manager.

Post-2012 US CLO Equity IRRs Categorised by Vintage

Based on 558 post-2012 US CLO deals that have been redeemed or paid off so far, those from the 2014 and 2018 vintages performed the worst. However, the sample size for the 2018 vintage deals is still relatively small. Deals from the 2020 and 2022 vintages performed the best, with median deals registering IRRs of...

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A Year-to-Date Review of US BSL CLO Resets

YTD, 70 BSL CLO deals have been reported to have undergone resets. Among these, 15 deals from the 2022–2023 vintages have reduced their cost of funding by an average of 61 bps, while also extending their reinvestment periods by about 2.7 years on average. 

Top-Performing US CLO Managers: Equity Cumulative Distributions and NAV (Updated)

The table below shows the top-performing managers with the most 2013–2019 deals that are in the 90th percentile category. Notably, CSAM stood out as the most successful and consistent manager in delivering good returns to equity investors. Other successful managers include Oak Hill Advisors, KKR Financial Advisors, Goldentree Asset Management, Neuberger Berman, Generate Advisors, Fortress Investment Group, and Anchorage Capital Group.

Scoring EU CLO Managers Based on 2021 Vintage Deal Performance

This study includes a sample of 93 more recent deals (closed in 2021 and Jan 2022) managed by 46 managers, using the Morningstar European B Ratings Loan Index as the benchmark loan index. The table below illustrates the relative standing of each EU CLO manager based on their latest average total alpha metrics (as of 26th June 2023) . A score of 98%, for instance, indicates that the manager’s total return alpha is at the 98th percentile, meaning their total return alpha metric exceeds that of 98% of their peers.

Comparing the Performance of Seasoned US BSL and EU CLO Equity Tranches

Discover the main disparities between the seasoned US BSL and EU CLO equity tranches in relation to annual distributions and final equity net asset value (NAV) realisation values necessary to achieve a 12.0% internal rate of return (IRR) target. Explore the reasons why median EU CLO equity tranches have shown higher annual distributions compared to their US equivalents.

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Static Primary vs Secondary: Palmer Square’s 93 DM AAA in Focus

Last week, Palmer Square European Loan Funding 2025-3, a static deal, priced its AAA tranche at 93 DM with a WAL of around 1.9 years. On Monday, a relatively broad list of seasoned AAA tranches changed hands; a selected set of benchmark levels, albeit in small notionals, is shown in the table below. CARPK 2021-1X A1 could likely have cleared at a slightly wider DM had it been a par or above-par bond.

EU Module (Subscription Required)

EU CLO Equity IRR Performance — Key Takeaways Across Vintages

Among 121 EU CLOs that have been, or are expected to be, fully redeemed, equity tranches from the 2020, 2022, and 2023 vintages stand out with strong final IRRs and average equity NAVs above 100%. The analysis also compares outcomes between first-loss and vertical risk retention deals, which so far have shown broadly similar performance. By vintage, reset deals outperformed non-resets across 2013–2016, underscoring the value of resetting.

US Module

2022 Vintage CLO Equity Again Shines on Above-Par Cover

BSP 2022-27A SUB traded and covered above par in yesterday’s BWIC (source: SCI). The deal was originally issued on 3 August 2022, and completed a highly accretive upsized reset in August 2024, extending its reinvestment end date from 20 July 2027 to 20 October 2029, with a call date of 20 October 2026.

EU Module (Subscription Required)

The Gallop of Recovery: Dryden 103’s Remarkable Comeback

Yesterday, a majority stake of €13.805 million in Dryden 103 Euro CLO 2021 subordinated notes was traded via BWIC. The deal’s performance is noteworthy: it was priced and closed in late 2022 with very wide liability spreads and a sizeable fixed-rate collateral exposure in a rising rate environment. These factors resulted in sub-par distributions until its reset in late 2024, immediately after the non-call period. At the time, the outlook appeared bleak, with equity NAV depressed and distributions running low. Since bottoming out in mid-2023, however, the deal has staged a steady recovery. Equity NAV rose consistently…