CIFC closes $829 million CLO

CIFC Asset Management closed its second CLO vehicle of 2014 last week, co-president Oliver Wriedt confirmed to Private Debt Investor.  

The $829 million vehicle includes $504 million in AAA/Aaaa rated securities with an L-plus 148 bps coupon, according S&P Capital IQ LCD data. The transaction was upsized from $724.5 million earlier this year.

CIFC closed a $623 million CLO earlier this year, bringing the firm’s total 2014 issuance to approximately $1.45 billion.

“We’ve kind of gotten ahead of the game this year,” CIFC co-president Oliver Wriedt told Private Debt Investor. “Both deals benefitted from collateral that has been warehoused since late 2013 … it’s our DNA, if you will, to use these long-dated non-marked to market warehouses. So we could show up at pricing with a lot of new issue collateral which allowed us to do pretty good size deals.

“We’re continuing to execute the same model that allowed us to be successful last year.”

CLO issuance hit a post-financial crisis record of $11.8 billion in April, according to S&P Capital IQ/LCD data. Total CLO issuance for the year stands at $34.5 billion.

“There was a lot of activity in November [and] December,” Wriedt said, adding that January saw a decline in activity. “February, March and April have now been gangbuster months, so we’re now ahead of the pace of where we were last year.

“Prices are a little softer, but there’s still an appetite for collateral from the CLO community.”

CIFC was founded in 2005. In addition to its CLO business, CIFC also pursues investments in corporate credit, structured products and manages separate accounts. Earlier this year, the firm hired Peter McLaughlin to build out its direct lending business.