Global CLOs: CLO Tracker June 2026 – What We Are Hearing From Investors

Research evidence excerpt

Global CLOs: CLO Tracker June 2026 – What We Are Hearing From Investors

Global IdeaM

Client Feedback from our Outlook Marketing

We have been on the road meeting with a broad group of CLO investors across the

Atlantic. Based on our client conversations, investors are overall more constructive

towards US vs Europe on the macro and fundamental backdrop. However, with tight

valuation, selectivity remains key. Manager quality, deal structure, and relative value

considerations are becoming increasingly important as market participants focus more

closely on downside risks and long-term differentiation.

Manager Selection Remains Paramount

Across nearly all conversations, manager selection emerged as one of the most

important considerations for CLO investing. With credit spreads remaining relatively

tight across much of the capital stack and AI-disruption concerns driving greater

dispersion in collateral performance, investors increasingly focused on manager specific

alpha over broad market beta. Investors in general agree with our view that the cycle is

characterized less by directional market moves and more by dispersion across portfolios,

underscoring the importance of underwriting discipline, portfolio construction, and trading

execution.

Investor preferences generally skew toward established managers with long track records

and demonstrated performance through multiple credit cycles. This preference appears

particularly strong in Europe, where many investors see limited compensation for taking

emerging-manager risk given what they see as thin spread pickup for newer managers.

Managers with lower software exposure and a well-thought-out framework for assessing

AI risk are generally viewed more favorably. Among equity investors, there is a preference