In the 2.0 CLO landscape, it is quite uncommon to see very high cash-on-cash equity distributions. However, 42 regular reinvesting US BSL CLO deals have distributed impressive cash payments to their equity investors, with annualized payments of around 25% or more so far this year.
The table below illustrates the equity distributions for EU CLOs, based on a sample of 145 deals. All these deals have exited their reinvestment period by 31 January 2024. Unlike their US counterparts, the median distribution for EU CLOs has been trending higher. In the EU CLO market, many managers have been more successful at maintaining investments in the first and second years post-reinvestment.
The latest median equity distribution was 2.8%, representing a decrease of 60 basis points from the previous median quarterly distribution—a significant decline. This suggests that an increasing number of deals may become ripe for a call over the next few quarters. However, the decision to actually call them will depend on several other factors.
Please see the chart below for the distribution of the latest EU CLO equity payments across 481 EU CLO deals. The median deal's latest distribution was at 4.2%. At least 10 seasoned deals from the 2013–2017 vintage are well-positioned for redemption. These deals have exited their reinvestment period and have achieved at least 110% of total equity distributions plus NAV on their last reporting dates.
Please see the table below for a list of EU CLO deals that distributed over 10 percentage points to their equity holders on their latest payment dates.
With rising rates, CLO equity tranches face more competition from lower mezzanine tranches. One of the main reasons investors like CLO equity is its quarterly cash-on-cash distributions. That said, with rising interest rates, lower mezzanine tranches are becoming a real alternative to equity tranches.
