2025 had been off to a promising start, with $78.6bn of US CLOs and €29bn of European CLOs priced across the first quarter, only down 10% from an exceptionally busy Q1 last year in the US, and over the twice the volumes seen in Europe in the same time period.

Mandates may be harder to come by in Q2 though, as global instability following US president Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement has slowed CLO issuance in the US, and in Europe (combined with regulatory drama covered in more detail below) has led to some deals being put on pause. Pipelines on both side of the Atlantic are still sizeable, however, so activity over the rest of the quarter is impossible to predict.