The hard sell

Covenant-lite loans make up an increasing part of collateralised loan obligation (CLO) portfolios. But the reduction in covenant protection has sparked concerns that lower recovery rates for cov-lite loans could cause increased loss exposure for CLO investors in a credit downturn. Radi Khasawneh investigates

asiarisk-jul07-25-gif

The boom in covenant-lite (cov-lite) loans is starting to have a noticeable effect on collateralised loan obligation (CLO) portfolios. With cov-lite loan volumes exploding in the first quarter of this year, CLO managers are increasingly turning to these assets to use as collateral in their portfolios.

Cov-lite loan volumes reached $48 billion in the first quarter of 2007 - double the figure for the whole of 2006, according to Standard & Poor's Leveraged Commentary and Data. While only a small

Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.

To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@risk.net or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.risk.net/subscribe

You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.

Sorry, our subscription options are not loading right now

Please try again later. Get in touch with our customer services team if this issue persists.

New to Risk.net? View our subscription options

Credit risk & modelling – Special report 2021

This Risk special report provides an insight on the challenges facing banks in measuring and mitigating credit risk in the current environment, and the strategies they are deploying to adapt to a more stringent regulatory approach.

The wild world of credit models

The Covid-19 pandemic has induced a kind of schizophrenia in loan-loss models. When the pandemic hit, banks overprovisioned for credit losses on the assumption that the economy would head south. But when government stimulus packages put wads of cash in…

Most read articles loading...

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a Risk.net account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account here