A $158 Billion CLO Bet Is Putting the Insurance Industry at Risk

  • Insurers have dramatically boosted CLO assets in recent years
  • Athene, American Equity among most exposed to lower-rated debt

Photographer: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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They’ve been billed as a solution to the rock-bottom interest rates weighing down the returns of America’s asset managers.

Collateralized loan obligations -- which package and sell leveraged loans into chunks of varying risk and return -- promise safety and higher yields.