CLOZ vs JAAA

CLOZDEldridge BBB-B CLO ETF

JAAAAJanus Henderson AAA CLO ETF

In short

CLOZ Most CLO ETFs park in the AAA slice. CLOZ heads down the stack to the BBB and BB tranches, where coupons are fatter and credit losses land sooner. Actively managed, income first, paid monthly.

JAAA The AAA CLO trade in an ETF wrapper, running since 2020: floating-rate exposure to the senior slice of the corporate loan stack, aiming for capital preservation and income, at a fee below the group norm.

Stated mandate

CLOZ The Fund seeks current income and, secondarily, capital preservation.

JAAA The fund seeks capital preservation and current income through floating-rate exposure to high-quality AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations.

Why people hold it

• CLOZ Mezzanine specialist: 80% of assets go to CLO tranches rated BBB+ to B- per the prospectus, up to 70% below investment grade. JAAA and PAAA stay at the top of the stack.sec.gov
• Income is the stated job, not a byproduct: current income first, capital preservation second, and cash goes out monthly.sec.gov
• Live since January 2023, run by a structured-credit shop that invests in CLOs and private ABS as both buyer and issuer. Actively managed, no index.eldridge.com

• JAAA Costs 0.20% a year, under the typical fee in its CLO peer group, and the newer AAA CLO rivals (CLOA, FAAA, ACLO) cluster at that same number rather than undercutting it.
• Very actively traded and a multi-billion-dollar fund, which is real market depth for an asset class that mostly lives in institutional hands.
• AAA CLO tranches pay floating coupons, so income resets as short-term rates move instead of being locked in. Distributions land monthly.
• Spread across roughly 400 positions at the top AAA rung of the loan capital stack, so no single deal carries the fund. One of the stronger builds in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• CLOZ The fee is the toll: 0.50% a year, double the typical CLO ETF and roughly 2.5x what AAA funds like JAAA and PAAA charge.
• Further down the waterfall: with up to 70% permitted in below-investment-grade tranches, credit stress shows up in prices here sooner than in AAA CLO funds.sec.gov
• No index to check it against, so tranche and CLO-manager selection is the adviser's call.eldridge.com

• JAAA Actively managed with no declared index behind it, so which deals and tranches the fund owns comes down to the manager, not a published rulebook.
• Floating rate cuts both ways: when short-term rates fall, the income these deals throw off falls with them.
• AAA is the senior rung, but it is still corporate loan credit, not Treasuries. The fund's stated aim is capital preservation, not a guarantee of it.

Full CLOZ profile⁠

Full JAAA profile⁠