Portfolio Analytics Wrap: CLO ETF Manager Strategies Diverge as Total Assets Surpass $50B

The U.S. CLO exchange traded fund, or ETF, market has grown into a robust buyer base, with total assets under management surpassing $50 billion last week and year-to-date inflows totaling $10 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Bank of America.

As the second quarter of 2026 comes to an end, the trailing three-month returns offer a clean read on CLO ETF performance through a period in which market technicals stabilized following a rocky first quarter.

Among 24 U.S. CLO ETFs tracked by Octus, the Eldridge BBB-B CLO ETF (CLOZ) led with a trailing three-month market price total return, measured by market share price plus reinvested distributions, of 4.63% as of July 2. Eldridge was followed by Reckoner Capital Management’s RCLY at 3.28% and RCLR at 2.95%, according to Morningstar.

Measuring the trailing three-month net asset value, or NAV, total returns, which capture the return that the underlying portfolio delivers, CLOZ leads at 3.27%, followed by RCLO at 2.84% and RCLY at 2.81%.

Octus performed an analysis of disclosed holdings as of July 1 across eight CLO ETFs, including Janus Henderson’s JAAA, JA and JBBB, VanEck’s CLOI, Eldridge’s CLOZ and CLOX, and Reckoner’s RAAA and RCLO, covering roughly $32.3 billion of combined net assets and mapping the funds’ CLO positions to Octus’ deal-level collateral data.

Among eight ETFs, JAAA, CLOI, JA, CLOX and RAAA focus primarily on investment-grade CLO tranches, while JBBB, CLOZ and RCLO target CLO mezzanine tranches.

Duration and liability economics remain highly consistent across the group, according to Octus’ CLO data. Weighted average life ranges from 4.52 years (CLOI) to 4.69 years (RAAA), average underlying loan spreads span 2.93% (RAAA) to 3.05% (CLOI), and weighted average cost of capital sits between 1.83% (RAAA) and 1.99% (JA).
 

Octus has identified 125 CLO managers across the eight ETF portfolios, and found that the manager diversification scales generally with the individual ETF’s size.

The $28.4 billion JAAA holds positions from 117 collateral managers, with its top five managers accounting for 22.8% of the fund’s asset value and its top 10 managers accounting for 39.6%. JBBB has a similarly diverse portfolio, spreading across 75 managers with the top 10 accounting for 38.3%.

At the other end of the ETF spectrum, the $35 million RAAA invests in 22 managers with 61.2% of the asset value distributed in its top 10, and the $30 million RCLO invests in 18 managers with a top-five share of 46% and a top 10 share of 72.7%

By combined market value, CIFC is the largest manager held at 4.8% ($1.589 billion) across the eight funds, followed by Napier Park at 4.5% ($1.48 billion) and Elmwood at 4.3% ($1.4 billion). The top 10 managers collectively represent 38% of total holdings.
 

However, because JAAA accounts for approximately 88% of the cohort’s total asset value, rankings based on combined market value are heavily skewed by its specific allocations. To provide a more balanced view, the heatmap below displays manager distribution on a fund-by-fund basis, ranked by their equal-weighted average across all eight ETFs.
 

Ares Management is the most broadly backed manager in the cohort, held by all eight funds and the largest position in both JA (8.8%) and RCLO (13.7%)

In terms of vintage distribution, the 2021 vintage is represented across all funds and constitutes the largest concentration for JAAA (17%), CLOI (26.7%) and CLOZ (23.0%).
 

CLOZ carries the most seasoned portfolio overall, with exposure to CLO vintages stretching from 2013 to 2026, though the 2025 and 2026 vintages account for just 4.3% of its total holdings.

JBBB, RAAA and RCLO have the heaviest allocation to the 2025 vintage, at 22.9%, 36.2% and 30.7% respectively.

Sector distribution exhibits minimal variance across the cohort of ETFs, as illustrated in the heatmap below. Industrials, Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology consistently rank as the top three allocated sectors across all eight funds.
 

CLO paper originating from transactions undergoing a reset dominates market value across the cohort of ETFs, though to varying degrees. CLOZ holds the largest concentration at 85.1%, whereas 5.3% of its assets originated from refinanced deals and just 9.7% from new issues. CLOI and RAAA maintain the lowest allocations to reset deals, both at 52.6%. However, CLOI holds 27.4% in refinanced deals, the highest among the peer group, whereas RAAA has no exposure to refinanced transactions.
 

The weighted average collateral asset price ranges from 95.36 (CLOI) to 96.68 (RAAA) across the eight funds, and every fund holds between 46.9% and 49.2% of collateral in the 95-to-100 price bucket. Above-par exposure ranges from 29.8% for CLOI to 33.6% for RCLO, according to Octus’ CLO data.

CLOI has a relatively long tail, with around 12% of its portfolio priced below 90, 1.4% higher than the second-longest tail JA (10.6%). RAAA and RCLO have the shortest tails with 7.5% and 7.8% of their portfolios pricing below 90 respectively, which is consistent with the funds’ heavy allocation to new vintages.
 

At the loan level, RAAA exhibits the highest revenue growth at 10.07%, as well as the highest free cash flow at 4.05% and the highest debt repayment capacity at 3.23x, according to Octus’ CLO data.