Partners Group Prices European CLO With 128 Bps Triple-As; Manager’s Asset Portfolio Improves Relative to Market

Partners Group priced its third new European CLO of the year, the Є408.5 million Penta CLO 18 via BNP Paribas on Wednesday, Nov. 13, according to market sources. The deal follows Penta CLO 17 in June and brings the manager’s new issue volume in Europe this year over Є1.2 billion.

The weighted average cost of debt of the CLO is EURIBOR+ 205.95 bps. The CLO has Є248 million triple-As, split between Є108 million and Є83 million loan tranches along with Є57 million notes, that yield EURIBOR+ 128 bps. The spread matches the tights of the market and is 3.6 bps inside the 10-day rolling average.

Penta CLO 18 is noncall for 1.5 years until June 18, 2026 and will reinvest for 4.6 years ending July 15, 2029.

According to Octus’ Portfolio Analytics platform, Partner Group’s CLO asset portfolio’s first lien net leverage ranked 37th highest out of 68 European CLO managers covered, on a weighted average basis, at 4.76x. This compares to the market weighted average of 4.79x based on all European CLO loan holdings.

Further, Partners Group CLO asset portfolio’s FCF yield ranked 14th highest out of 68 European CLO managers covered, on a weighted average basis, at 1.64%. This compares to the market weighted average of 1.05% based on all European CLO loan holdings.

See additional stats on Partners Group, as well as a comparison to European market averages below.

Partners Group’s asset portfolio has improved relative to the market. From 2022 onward, the portfolio has shown lower 1st lien leverage and better FCF yield to the market overall. Recent performance shows first lien net leverage/FCF yield of assets has been lower/higher than the market respectively in recent periods. See charts below: