Tag Archives: WAS

Basic Premium

Rethinking WAS: Uncoupling Spread Levels from Risk in EU CLO Performance

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.

Basic Premium

Rethinking WAS: Decoupling Spread Levels from Risk in US CLO Portfolios

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.