Ain't no mountain (of debt) high enough

For this week's episode of Another Fine Mezz, securitization deputy editor Tom Lemmon returned from his holidays (and golfing misery) to host, while all in the GlobalCapital stable are hoping this episode will be ABS reporter George Smith's last before he takes a breather to become a father.

Patrick Drahi, founder of telecom and media giant Altice tried to calm the nerves among CLO managers (and other obligors) last week, as the crisis around the company's debt and corruption allegations continues. With European CLOs exposed to around €4bn of Altice's debt, our reporters discuss the pervading sense of concern over said debt pile — and the wider impact it could have on the European CLO market.

The European securitization market has shrunk dramatically relative to the US since the global financial crisis in 2008. As the most battle-worn market participants are gradually out of the market to pastures new, there are concerns that their wisdom is being lost — and not being replaced. We ask whether this leaves the industry short on crisis experience.

Finally, the latest hot topic in debt markets has turned our structured credit team onto ontological investigation: what, exactly, is the difference between a private credit CLO or middle market CLO? It's not clear, and that's a problem for the market and investors.