CLOA vs RCLR

CLOAAiShares AAA CLO Active ETF

RCLRFReckoner BBB-B 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.

RCLR Most bond funds pipe cash out on a schedule. RCLR runs the other way: it holds Reckoner's BBB-B CLO strategy and aims to minimize payouts to at most one a year, keeping income inside the fund rather than in your account.

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.

RCLR The Fund seeks total return while minimizing dividend or distribution payments.

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.

• RCLR Rare shape for a US bond fund: the stated goal is total return while minimizing dividend and distribution payments, with payouts limited to one a year.
• One ticket into mid-tier CLO debt: it invests through the Reckoner BBB-B CLO ETF (RCLO) instead of leaving you to source individual tranches.
• Ordinary 1940 Act fund wrapper, the same regulated structure behind mainstream ETFs, so there is no partnership paperwork attached.
• Fixed income exposure without a payout drip to redeploy, since the design retains income rather than pushing it out each month.

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.

• RCLR Costs 0.60% a year against a 0.40% median for high-yield bond ETFs, and well above index staples like SCYB at 0.03% and SPHY at 0.05%.
• Arrived in February 2026 as a small fund, so the record is short and trading has been light. Spreads can run wider than in the category's giants.
• Not the shape for spending money: distributions are deliberately minimized to at most one payment a year, so regular cash flow is not part of the design.

Full CLOA profile⁠

Full RCLR profile⁠