Listen to the latest episode of Credit Exchange with Lisa Lee
Published in London & New York
10 Queen Street Place, London
1345 Avenue of the Americas, New York
Creditflux is an
company
© Creditflux Ltd 2026. All rights reserved. Available by subscription only.
Event CLO Symposium 2026
CLOs labelled ‘best’ asset class since 2000
Despite LME trouble and the constrained supply of loans, CLO performance has been so strong this millennium that 30 new managers are rumoured to want to join the fray in Europe alone
You’re going to have more volatility in the rates market going forward than we had in the previous 10 years
Jon Brager
Partner/portfolio manager,
Palmer Square Capital Management
Trade policy and geopolitical conflict mean floating rate securities will continue to be attractive, says Brager.
LMEs are a means of redistributing value across the cap stack
Celine Buttanshaw-Chan
Partner, PVTL Point
Investors see different outcomes on the same borrower, depending on whether they’re in or out of a particular creditor group.
In the near term, spreads should tighten
Anusha Singh
EMEA head of CLO primary, JPMorgan
Any lasting ceasefire in Iran will impact the market, says Singh.
Volatility allows you to differentiate yourself as a manager
Josy Mazzucchiello
Head of European CLOs & structured credit, Partners Group
Navigating volatility due to AI dispersion, macro events and industry disruption sets skilled managers apart, says Mazzucchiello.
As a CLO manager, unless you are part of providing a capital solution, avoiding all LMEs would be ideal
Young Choi
Global head of trading, portfolio manager, Rockford Tower
CLO managers need to focus on avoiding bad credits, says Choi.
Private credit could potentially be pretty competitive as an avenue for financing
Adeel Shafiqullah
Executive managing director, head of European CLO management, Sculptor Capital
Companies in non-software, non-cyclical sectors will find alternatives to the broadly syndicated loan market, Shafiqullah believes.
The loan market’s being a little more selective, but the capacity’s still there
Ben Thompson
Head of EMEA leveraged finance capital markets, JPMorgan
The BSL market is still open and deals are getting done despite uncertainty, says Thompson.
Access to loans is one of the challenges
Billy Cole
Director — CLO structuring & syndication, Citi
Speaking about the key hurdles for new managers, Cole also noted that the diversity of opinions that come with new entrants should be beneficial.
We’re very cognisant of style drift
Adam Goldberg
Portfolio manager, co-head of CLO platform, T. Rowe Price
Managers should present a consistent story to investors, says Goldberg. Style shouldn’t shift depending on the market or a manager’s holdings.
Tiering is actually a thing CLO investors should care about
Pak Sum Chan
Top tier managers can avoid LMEs and thereby preserve returns, Chan believes.
European loan prices are less volatile than those in the US because they aren’t affected by ETFs. But the liability side is still influenced by global factors.
I think we all agree that tiering will continue to be a feature of LMEs going forward
Sushila Nayak
Partner, Dechert
Nayak looks at trends for the year ahead.
Across the US and Europe, managers are rife for consolidation
Paul Roos
Partner & head of structured credit, Whitebox Advisors
There may be too many firms in Europe and the US, says Roos.
The triple A anchor bid has been constructive but selective
Aleem Akhtar
Managing director, EMEA CLO Primary, BNP Paribas
Speaking about recent market performance.
There’s reason to be cautiously optimistic
Dan Tobias
Partner, Orrick
The future of the private credit CLO market is still bright, Tobias believes.
There is a growing number of managers entering the European market
James Baillie
Partner, structured credit, Paul Hastings
Rumour has it there could be as many as 30 new managers exploring opportunities in Europe.
There is a level of tiering which we haven’t seen before in Europe
Steven Tubb
Head of European secondary CLO & ABS trading, Jefferies
On how the macro environment is impacting CLO managers.
These sorts of industry events are important, so we can show that actually the market does function how it’s supposed to
Michael Htun
Head of CLOs & structured credit, Kartesia
The CLO market has responded to recent macro shocks and shown its resilience, says Htun.
New issuance has fallen sharply in the last two months because of what’s happening in Iran
Kevin Wong
Managing director, CVC
Wong believes volatility will drive triple A demand.
It’s challenging because it feels there’s always more demand for loans than than there is supply
Till Schweizer
Managing director and portfolio manager, Fasanara Capital
CLO managers continually wrestle with market dynamics, says Schweizer.
I’ve started seeing unexpected behaviour in the secondary market with regards to ETF vehicles buying and selling CLOs
Olivier Gozlan
Portfolio manager, Crystal Fund
The increasing use of CLO ETFs has the potential to amplify volatility, says Gozlan.
When volatility increases, you may not be able to find buying opportunities
Savvas Charalambous
Portfolio manager, Prytania Asset Management
Traders can’t always access the value that is apparent in certain tranches, for example, in the single Bs.
The European market, in terms of reinvestment, doesn’t have the flow
Kieran Page
Head of structured credit & mortgages, Legal & General Institutional Retirement (LGRI)
US direct lending managers are able to reinvest into new loans; that is not always possible in Europe, says Page.
The market is holding up, but...it’s a lot more difficult
Jonathan Horowitz
Partner, head of structured liabilities, Fortress Investment Group
Ongoing risks, such as the AI impact on software, and the war on Iran, are a challenge for new issue CLOs.
European authorities have been watching this space closely, including in the context of investment by insurers
Julia Tsybina
Partner, Clifford Chance
Valuation of private credit assets is a key challenge for mid-market CLOs and ABLs/ABFs in Europe, says Tsybina.
Perhaps investors have dialled back their return expectations slightly
Matthew Layton
Partner, Pearl Diver Capital
Layton believes investors know CLO equity is still a good product, but they are tweaking their models.
CLO issuance in both Europe and the US has been extremely resilient
Brendan Condon
Head of European CLO structuring, Deutsche Bank
CLOs have continued to price through COVID, conflict in Ukraine and inflation.
The ongoing hunger for yield exists
Peter Polanskyj
CIO, Obra Capital
Polanskyj looked at drivers that might cause spreads to reprice.
CLO managers and captive CLO equity fund investors are not aligned
Shiloh Bates
CIO, Flat Rock Global
Captive CLO equity funds are becoming more popular — but CLO managers should tread carefully, argues Bates.
I think we will see dramatically more manager dispersion
David Altenhofen
Head of investments, Accunia Credit Management
In the European CLO market, tiering will increase compared to the past 10 years, says Altenhofen.
CLOs have been the best- performing asset class this millennium
Chris McGarry
Partner, Mayer Brown
McGarry introduced the session on the CLO outlook for 2026.
