Private equity firms launch CLOs

A handful of US private equity firms are broadening their product scope by marketing a range of collateralised loan obligation structures to their existing client base and new investors alike. Ellen Leander talks to the players in this niche

Although overall issuance activity in the collateralised loan obligation (CLO) market seems to have slipped in the first quarter of 2002, private equity groups are continuing to bring new CLO products to market. While many other CLO issuers put their new issuance plans on hold – pending clarification of changes to US accounting rules for special purpose vehicles – private equity groups plunged ahead with their launches because they would not have been impacted by the rule changes, as