CLOA vs CLOX

CLOAAiShares AAA CLO Active ETF

CLOXBEldridge AAA CLO ETF

In short

CLOA BlackRock's play in AAA CLOs: active credit picking measured against J.P. Morgan's CLOIE AAA index, 0.20% a year, spread over roughly 400 positions. A billion-dollar-plus book built since its 2023 launch.

CLOX A 2023 arrival in the AAA CLO rush: top-rated slices of leveraged loan pools, roughly 70 of them, with income paid monthly. The 0.20% fee undercuts the cohort median and matches the category's biggest names.

Stated mandate

CLOA The fund seeks exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations, using active credit selection to pursue income and capital preservation with potentially low volatility.

CLOX The fund aims to generate current income and preserve capital.

Why people hold it

• CLOA Charges 0.20% a year, below the 0.25% typical for CLO funds and level with what most of the category's biggest names (JAAA, FAAA, ACLO) charge.
• Roughly 400 separate CLO positions, one of the deepest books in its peer group, so no single deal carries the fund.
• Actively run: the team selects deals and CLO managers instead of buying whatever a benchmark holds. The CLOIE AAA index is the yardstick, not the rulebook.
• Income arrives monthly, and it sits among the easier funds in its cohort to get in and out of.

• CLOX Fee of 0.20% undercuts the cohort median of 0.25% and matches the largest names in the category (JAAA, CLOA, FAAA, ACLO).
• The mandate is plain English: current income and capital preservation. Distributions are paid monthly.
• Moderately traded with an asset base in the hundreds of millions, so it is not a thin, brand-new ticker.
• Sits in the upper half of its AAA CLO peer group, a cohort stacked with large, well-resourced managers.

Worth knowing

• CLOA Active means manager-dependent. There is no index to fall back on, so outcomes hinge on which deals the desk picks.
• The mandate pursues income and capital preservation with potentially low volatility. That is the aim, not a floor; CLO prices still move.
• Trading since January 2023, so its record is short next to long-running bond funds and covers a narrow slice of credit history.

• CLOX Roughly 70 positions in one corner of structured credit. That makes it a specialist income sleeve rather than a broad core bond holding.
• CLO debt pays floating rates, so the monthly income moves with short-term rates instead of locking in a fixed coupon.
• Crowded shelf: PGIM's PAAA charges 0.19% and several rivals match CLOX at 0.20%, so the price edge is over the median, not the leaders.

Full CLOA profile⁠

Full CLOX profile⁠