Featured Reseach
Around 193 deals across 23 EU CLO managers have exposure to First Brands, with median deal exposure of 0.62%. The impact on MVOC rankings differs by manager. The table below highlights changes in rankings for these 23 managers since 5 September 2025.
The table below presents the average annualised prepayment rates for each seasoned manager during the first, second, third, and fourth years of the post-reinvestment period (post-RP). The sample includes deals that had exited their reinvestment periods by 31 December 2024. Deals that were called or reset are also included, reflecting their pre-call and pre-reset historical post-RP prepayment rates.
Loan Repricing Pressures Persist with Rising Par-and-Above Bucket
Please refer to the table below, which shows the 2.0 BSL CLO AUM trends for each US BSL CLO manager since 2012. The AUM (in billions of dollars) for each period is based on CLO deal pricing dates and the notional of the underlying collateral, rather than CLO liability notional. For consistency, the AUM figures for each manager have been adjusted to reflect mergers and acquisitions as well as changes in management contracts. The top ten US BSL CLO managers are Blackstone, Carlyle, UBS AM, CIFC, RRAM, Octagon, Ares, Neuberger Berman, Sound Point, and Elmwood. As of 30 June 2025, 33 managers oversaw at least $10 billion of BSL CLO AUM, with 12 of them managing $20 billion or more.
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Among the 19 EU CLO deals priced since then, top-tier (tightest 10%) pricing for AAA, AA, A, BBB, BB, and B tranches was 131.4, 190, 219, 300, 550, and 850 bps, respectively.
When the loan market is strong and stable, CLO issuance tends to benefit significantly, as tighter AAA spreads gain momentum...
Overall, CCC/Caa exposures between US BSL and EU CLOs are broadly comparable across multiple vintages.
Among the 15 EU CLO deals priced since 25 June 2025, top-tier (tightest 10%) pricing for AAA, AA, A, BBB, BB, and B tranches was 131.4, 190, 222, 310, 560, and 850 bps, respectively. CIFC European Funding VII and Fidelity Grand Harbour CLO 2025-1 priced their AAA tranches at 131 bps — among the tightest levels recorded.
Primary US BSL CLO Pricing: Assessing Relative Value Across the Capital Stack (July 14, 2025)
Benchmarking YTD Average Prints of Top-Tier vs Emerging EU CLO Managers
Primary US BSL CLO Pricing: Assessing Relative Value Across the Capital Stack (July 8, 2025)
EU CLO managers such as KKR, Partners Group, Alcentra, RRAM, Whitestar, Oaktree, Anchorage, and Five Arrows have performed well in resetting their outstanding deals.
The table below shows, for each manager, the total number of deals in the sample that have exited their non-call periods, along with the number of CLO resets conducted since mid-2023. Resets can offer meaningful benefits to both debt and equity investors. For debt holders, a reset functions much like a large prepayment event, with all tranches repaid at par — a favourable outcome, particularly for out-of-the-money senior tranches issued at tight spreads. Lower mezzanine investors also tend to prefer deals with a higher likelihood of reset, as it provides downside protection akin to an insurance policy. In underperforming deals, these tranches may trade at a discount due to low MVOCs, even in strong loan markets. A reset restores them to par, helping to mitigate risk.
US BSL CLO AAA tranches are currently pricing cheaply relative to their year-to-date averages.
