Have you ever wished that someone summarized the key concepts of CLOs in one clear publication but were too afraid to ask? Wish no more! This CLO primer provides all the fundamentals and key features of the product. Let's start with an obvious question… Collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) are structured finance securities backed by a diverse pool of loans to speculative-grade companies across different industry sectors. In the U.S., there are two primary types of CLOs: CLOs collateralized by broadly syndicated loans (BSL CLOs) and CLOs collateralized by middle-market loans (MM CLOs). This primer will focus on BSL CLOs, which represent about 90% of outstanding U.S. CLO transactions. CLOs consist of different classes of CLO liability notes (or bonds) and
