Cloud 9fin Syndication Nation — Recapping a jam-packed January with AGL’s Wynne Comer
Feb 5, 2026
Wynne Comer, COO of AGL Credit Management with deep experience in syndicated loans and private credit. She recaps January’s tight financing and rapid two-week trading swing. She talks quality bias toward B1/B2 loans, capital flows between broadly syndicated loans and private credit, vibe coding hype in tech, and how AI tools augment credit research.
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CLO Demand Created A Tight Loan Market
- CLO demand in 2025 created a persistent technical squeeze with far more cash chasing loans than expected supply.
- That led to widespread loan tightening and a stretched market entering 2026.
January Cash Fueled New-Issue Buying
- January saw huge flows deployed into new-issue LBO loans and secondary, with two-thirds of available cash going to new deals.
- Rapid shifts then cut the share of loans trading above par from ~65% to ~20% in weeks.
CLO Calls Amplified January Volatility
- Massive CLO calls and concentrated new-issue LBO supply materially altered market technicals in January.
- Those dynamics explain intense short-term tightening and volatility in loan spreads.