BK Opportunities V is Top Performing Credit Strategy hedge funds in 2024 by PreqinApril 10, 2024
We are thrilled to announce that BK Opportunities V has been recognized as one of the Top Performing Credit Strategy hedge funds in 2024 by Preqin!
We are truly honored to be acknowledged for our dedication, expertise, and outstanding performance in the credit strategy space. This achievement reflects our talented team’s hard work and commitment and the trust and support of our valued investors. Given the challenging market conditions, it’s a testament to our team’s resilience, expertise, and unwavering dedication to success.
We sincerely thank our investors, partners, and team members for their continued support and dedication.
Thank you, Preqin, for this incredible recognition, and thank you to everyone who has been a part of our journey!
CLOs Sales Forecasts Jump Amid Heavy Issuance: Structured WeeklyMarch 25, 2024
By Scott Carpenter
(Bloomberg) — Collateralized loan obligations are seeing a surge in sales volume, spurring strategists to boost their issuance expectations for the year. Strategists at Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Plc have in recent weeks raised their forecasts for new US CLO volume this year, with Barclays lifting its forecast for securities backed by broadly syndicated loans by at least 50%. And analysts at both Morgan Stanley and Nomura have said that CLO equity, the riskiest part of the transactions, now looks compelling, according to research notes from the firms.
The CLO market is benefiting from a rally that’s gripped credit markets broadly as investors grow increasingly hopeful that the Federal Reserve will help the economy avoid recession despite a series of rate hikes that started in 2022. Amid this rally, the CLO arbitrage has improved, signaling more profit can be earned from managing CLOs, Citigroup said in its note.
Although there are still questions about when the Fed will make its first interest-rate cut, the market is taking solace in the fact that rates will probably stay higher for longer. What’s more, despite the highest interest rates in years, default rates for leveraged loans remain below their historical averages, a surprising development that’s helped boost demand for CLOs, said Olivier Gozlan, an investment manager at Crystal Fund, a family of investment vehicles managed by Oristan Ireland DAC. “There’s been a huge shift in the market’s view of CLOs over the last few months,” Gozlan said. “It’s much more bullish.”
Of course, it’s still too early to say how well the leveraged loan market will handle today’s elevated interest rates. Gozlan isn’t overly optimistic about the CLO market’s ability to absorb additional stress in coming months. “It’s difficult for me to be convinced that interest rates for many companies can double and you can have little damage from that,” he said. Elsewhere in credit markets, robust investor demand for bonds has kept risk premiums relatively tight despite ample supply of newly issued debt, while spreads on junk bonds dropped to their narrowest levels since early 2022. A Bank of America strategist said last week that high-grade bonds are experiencing a “goldilocks scenario” of higher yields, lower interest-rate volatility, fund inflows and “hot, but not too hot US data.”
9finFebruary 21, 2024
We want to welcome a new name in the debt market news, 9fin!
We are also delighted to be featured in their article “CLO hedge funds return over 20% on average in 2023”. It is an excellent summary of the 2023 performance for CLO funds; see the performance table (here). We share with you an extract from this article:
Crystal Funds’ portfolio manager Olivier Gozlan said tightening at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023 from a mark-to-market point of view accounted for around 60% of his funds’ strategies’ performance. CLO resets of large positions in 2023 also contributed, Gozlan added.
“When the war in Ukraine started in 2022, many people thought the crisis would be a matter of weeks but by May/June the market realised it was going to be for a long time,” he said. “There was a wave of new deals in the summer being issued for risk management of the warehouse with debt issued at a large spread and we raised money at the time for this specific opportunity.”
Gozlan says the firm was able to deploy at this efficient entry point, for example investing in single-Bs in the 1,500 DM. “Today spreads are 900bp, so the price effect is material,” he added.
The full article can be found (here).
Leading Fund – BK Opportunities Fund VFebruary 15, 2024
We are delighted that CreditFlux has written an article in the January edition of their newsletter on BK Opportunities Fund V as a leading credit fund for its outstanding return.
You can find the full article (here).
Creditflux CLO Symposium 2023 Panel with Olivier GozlanMay 10, 2023
During the Creditflux CLO Symposium 2023, Olivier Gozlan, portfolio manager at Crystal Fund, participated in the Panel: Would you buy it?
You can access the entire panel discussion here.
Crystal Fund receives Best CLO Fund award in 2023 at CreditFlux Award CeremonyMay 4, 2023
Launch of BK Investment Grade VIIIApril 1, 2023
Crystal Fund is expanding with a new strategy focused on global investment-grade CLO tranches. Up to now, the focus was on junior mezzanine in US and European CLO tranches alongside CLO equity. The extension of investment scope comes from identifying meaningful risk-return opportunities in the single As and triple Bs.
BK Investment Grade VIII will launch at the end of April 2023, giving Crystal Fund the ability to invest from single As down to equity.
Dr Pierre-Olivier Fortin is promoted to the investment committeeMarch 15, 2023
The Crystal Fund keeps developing. The strategy leans toward business growth and responsible investment. As part of this strategy, the investment committee welcomes Dr Pierre-Olivier Fortin to join and bring a new set of expertise to assist the investment decisions.
Signatory of the Principles for Responsible InvestmentMarch 1, 2023
The Crystal Fund seeks to participate in building a more sustainable financial system. We believe the credit market as a whole, and the CLO market in particular, can be sustainable and act as welfare-enhancing.
This is why on March 2023, the crystal fund and all its associated vehicles signed the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to show the Crystal Fund’s commitment to responsible investment.
Launch of BK-7September 15, 2021
CLO Mezz Panel – CLO Summit with Olivier GozlanDecember 9, 2020
Olivier Gozlan, portfolio manager at Crystal Fund, participated in the CLO Mezz Panel – CLO Summit.
Crystal Fund receives Best CLO Fund award in 2019 at CreditFlux Award CeremonyMay 7, 2019
On May 7th, 2019, Olivier Gozlan from Oristan DAC was awarded the prestigious best CLO Fund at the CreditFlux Award Ceremony of the CLO Symposium in London. We have a short video of Olivier Gozlan accepting this award.