The CLO Market Surprises Us Once Again: An Overview of the Current U.S. CLO Market

Abstract

For those of us, including the author, who have been active in the CLO market in the United States since its infancy, it seems entirely reasonable and proper to expect that after 25 years or so of development, this market would have finally “grown up” and become a mature, settled asset class. It has, after all, been a tortuous path to the current phase of CLO structures, marked by various periods of rapid expansion and diversification, and punctuated with several stomach-churning declines. Nonetheless, today’s CLO market continues to show a remarkable capacity to renew itself and to evolve—indeed, to our surprise.