Octaura Holdings announced the launch of its Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) electronic trading platform, bringing a new era of innovation to the secondary trading market. This platform expands Octaura’s capabilities to service the structured credit markets, following the launch of its syndicated loan trading platform in 2022.

Designed to remedy structural issues plaguing the CLO market, Octaura’s platform introduces a unified framework that provides transparency and improved execution for participants. Buyside users will have access to streamlined workflows, increasingly reliable data and a marketplace that empowers confident investment decisions. Sellside users will benefit from reduced operational friction and more efficient and productive client relationships.

Octaura launched the platform with three trading protocols: Bilateral, Request for Quote (RFQ) and Lists. Of note, the List protocol brings significant efficiencies to the manually intensive processes associated with trading Bids Wanted in Competition (BWICs). All three CLO trading protocols are now fully available on Octaura after facilitating live transactions with early adopter firms in beta for several months.

“Bringing our CLO platform and BWIC protocol to life is not just a milestone for Octaura, but a significant leap forward for the entire industry. For too long, structural inefficiencies have impeded institutional investors from fully participating in the CLO market. Today, we’re changing that narrative,” said Brian Bejile, CEO of Octaura. “We are committed to building a solution that truly serves the needs of everyone involved in the market.”

With a vision to significantly reduce time associated with facilitating CLO lists and influence growth in secondary trading volume, Octaura’s trading platform will enable participants to:

• Manage CLO lists, notifications, and bids seamlessly within a centralized system, eliminating the need for cumbersome spreadsheets and complicated tracking processes.
• Integrate preferred Order Management Systems directly for automated trade booking, reducing errors and increasing efficiency.
• Access historical data and trade color through Octaura’s secure platform, supporting easy post-trade reference and analysis.
• Leverage Octaura’s proprietary, real-time trade and price data to empower more informed investment decisions and improved price execution.
• Tap into the industry’s deepest liquidity pool for CLOs, with a dozen dealers and more than 50 buyside firms onboarded to the platform.

“Earlier this summer we ran our first CLO BWIC using Octaura.  It was amazing to see the CLO secondary market come out of the Stone Age!” said Tom Majewski, Founder and Managing Partner, Eagle Point Credit Management.

Critical to the advancement of the CLO market is accessible and high-quality data and analytics – something top of mind for Octaura as they work with key players in the market like Moody’s to develop a comprehensive end-to-end solution.

“The launching of electronic trading of CLOs on Octaura is a watershed moment for the market,” said David Trepanier, Managing Director, Head of Global Credit Structured Products at Bank of America. “With the noteworthy success that Octaura has already had in electronification in the leverage loan market, the advent of bringing this technology and trading protocols to CLOs will be transformative for both markets. This development will bring unprecedented efficiency and transparency which will allow for greater breadth and depth of access to the CLO market for all. With the launching of these protocols, Octaura is addressing many of the CLO market inefficiencies that have plagued both buy side and sell side players for years.”

“We are enthusiastic about the transition of CLO BWICs to Octaura’s electronic trading platform, which is significantly enhancing market efficiency and streamlining operations. We’ve already observed substantial benefits and are excited to see continued widespread adoption of Octaura across the CLO market.” Jake Caldwell, Head of US CLO Trading at Goldman Sachs.

Source: Octaura