CIFC Asset Management has launched a new philanthropy — CLO Initiative for Change — that combines supporting organizations promoting environmental, social and governance changes with the firm's day job as a credit manager and CLO sponsor.
As part of a new collateralized loan obligation, CIFC Funding 2021-IV, CIFC and other firms working on the CLO are contributing a combined $145,000 to Black Girls Code, a non-profit providing technology-related education to girls aged 7 to 17. Members of the group making the donation are RBC Capital Markets, The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Appleby (Cayman) Ltd., Allen & Overy LLP, Milbank LLP and Locke Lord LLP.
"What drew us to Black Girls Code is that there is significant underrepresentation of women of color in the financial marketplace," said Mark Sanofsky, CIFC's New York-based managing director.
Once a year, CIFC executives plan to issue a CLO associated with the CLO Initiative for Change effort. CIFC will ask its deal partners in that CLO to pledge a portion of their fees to a charity, he said.
Steve Vaccaro, CIFC's CEO and CIO, said he has heard from other CLO executives that they wished they had thought of doing the same thing. "I think this is going to catch on, not just our one deal a year. We expect this to be replicated by our peers in other transactions," Mr. Vaccaro said.
