Och-Ziff Capital Management Group has closed its first European collateralised loan obligation (CLO) transaction, OZLME, totalling approximately EUR413 million.

The CLO, arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will be managed through Och-Ziff's affiliate, Och-Ziff Europe Loan Management, and will invest predominantly in broadly syndicated senior secured loans.
 
"We are very pleased to announce the closing of our first European CLO," says Adeel Shafiqullah, managing director and senior portfolio manager of institutional credit strategies in Europe. "We have a deep, experienced team of credit investment professionals in Europe with significant and broad expertise investing and managing CLO portfolios. This closing is an important milestone in the development of our Institutional Credit Strategies platform in the region."
 
Institutional Credit Strategies (ICS) is Och-Ziff's asset management platform that invests in performing credits, including leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, private credit/bespoke financing and investment grade credit via CLOs and other customised solutions for clients. Since the inception of the platform in May 2012, ICS has issued 14 CLOs totalling approximately USD7.6 billion.