CLOA vs RAAR

CLOAAiShares AAA CLO Active ETF

RAARDReckoner Yield Enhanced AAA CLO Reinvesting 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.

RAAR Most AAA CLO ETFs exist to spray income at you every month. RAAR is the odd one out: an actively managed AAA CLO fund that aims to distribute just once a year, letting interest stack up inside the wrapper instead.

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.

RAAR The Fund is an actively-managed ETF that seeks total return by investing in AAA-rated debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), while aiming to limit dividend or income distributions to once per year.

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.

• RAAR The rare accumulator. It aims to limit distributions to once a year, so CLO interest builds inside the fund instead of landing in your account twelve times a year.
• Exactly what the name says: AAA-rated CLO debt tranches, the senior slice of the loan securitization stack, picked by an active manager rather than tracked off an index.
• Built around the same AAA CLO strategy as its sibling RAAA, with the payout switch turned from routine income to an annual event.

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.

• RAAR It charges 0.40% a year. The typical AAA CLO ETF sits near 0.25%, and the category's largest names (JAAA, CLOA, PAAA) run about 0.20%.
• Launched in late 2024 and still a small, thinly traded fund, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the category's heavyweights. Limit orders matter here.
• The once-a-year cadence is a stated aim, not a promise, and by design there is no monthly cash landing in your account from this fund.

Full CLOA profile⁠

Full RAAR profile⁠