Among depressing suggestions like “World hit by major health crisis as obesity drugs make people stop exercising”, “US heralds the end of capitalism with tax-free government bonds” and “Generative AI deepfake triggers a national security crisis” one scenario stood out — that emboldened by surging crude oil prices, Saudi Arabia creates a global soccer champions league after buying the UEFA Champions League franchise.

Given the deep love of sporting metaphors in the CLO investor community, we can’t wait to hear the first call for global CLOs in a conference panel next year.

For those readers who are too young to remember, CDO2 were one of the more questionable products of the structured credit boom that led to the great financial crisis. But although the CLO version took some hits, in the end, said the investor, CDO2 worked out “okay”.

So if the arb gets any worse, expect ingenious CLO bankers to come knocking with a great “new” idea.