Data

Once again, CLO funds claimed the most spots in the top 10. However these funds only helped drag the category index up to 0.00%. Another solid month for Pictet’s corporate distressed fund, with 2.32%, has helped the vehicle climb past its tough start to the year and helped boost YTD to -5.71%.

Crystal Fund’s most recent vehicles have taken first and third, leading the CLO category, while Orchard, Alegra and Prospect make up the other slots. With its October performance, CloverTree Opportunities Fund has pushed its annualized return since inception in March 2020 to 21.59%.

Leading fund

Olivier Gozlan, portfolio manager at Crystal Funds, said: “October performance was helped by three sources: firstly, in mid-2022 we identified opportunities in the new issue market, where single-Bs were being issued in the 1,500 area. This took some time to pay off but has been reflected in the valuation this year.

“Secondly, we targeted single-B paper in, or close to, its post reinvestment period, through secondary market trading in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023, when market value coverage was weaker. Now loan prices have increased, coverages have improved the positions.

“Thirdly, we bought new issue transactions this year when the market was wider, mainly triple-B positions in the 650 range. The recent tightening helped price up the valuations.”