As the leveraged loan market woke up this past January, as confidence in the economy and rate expectations grew, so the CLO market has rebounded. Not just in the US, as we detailed last week, but in Europe as well. 

Our friends at Creditflux highlighted this phenomenon, quoting one leading manager as saying: “Given the number of CLO issuances year to date, we see 2024 breaking records for gross new issue volumes in Europe.” 

As our Chart of the Week shows, European issuance year-to-date totals about €27 billion 2024, almost double 2023’s €15 billion of activity, per PitchBook LCD. Contrast that with US issuance of about $115 billion and $60 billion, respectively for this year and last year.

From a pricing perspective, both US and Europe have seen the cost of triple-A liabilities come down in the same way loan spreads have compressed. Recent European vehicles have been issued at their tights slightly below 130 bps with their US counterparts a bit above that.