Barings says first two infrastructure CLOs drew 100-plus investor meetings

Barings says more than 100 investor meetings across its first two infrastructure CLO transactions drew participation from a range of insurance investors. Ilena Coyle, the manager's head of North American insurance and intermediary, gives the figure in a Q&A carried in Insurance Asset Risk's 2026 North America awards corporate statements.

Coyle argues the CLO structure has earned enough investor familiarity to be applied to a wider set of underlying assets. Traditional broadly syndicated loan CLOs remain the largest segment of the market, she says, while structures backed by private credit, infrastructure debt and other specialised asset classes have widened the menu for buyers. She attributes that to growing investor comfort with the diversification, active management and structural protections a CLO provides.

The case she makes to insurers pairs two assets general accounts already hold. Infrastructure debt offers exposure to essential assets that often benefit from long-term contractual or regulated cash flows. Wrapped in a CLO, it comes with diversification, active management and a tranche profile the investor selects against its own risk and return objective. Coyle points to high barriers to entry and resilient business models across transportation, energy, digital infrastructure and utilities.

Infrastructure debt's appeal to insurers is not new. A September market insight argued that sub-investment-grade infrastructure debt can lift yields without abandoning real-asset protection, provided the qualifying criteria are met.

Coyle predicts infrastructure CLOs can become a more significant segment of the structured credit market as insurers seek diversification and high-quality income-generating assets.