Goldman Sachs emerges as leading bidder for Palmer Square

Goldman Sachs is the leading bidder to acquire Palmer Square Capital Management, the firm founded in 2009 by Chris and Angie Long in Kansas City, Missouri that oversees roughly $37 billion in assets, according to Bloomberg's report. Palmer Square focuses on collateralized loan obligations, and the US CLO market has grown more than fourfold over 15 years to exceed $1.3 trillion. No deal has been finalized, the talks could still collapse, and neither Goldman nor Palmer Square has issued formal statements confirming the transaction. Elsewhere in the CLO market, Blackstone's BCRED sold a roughly $450 million CLO deal in March after Blackstone appointed a new head of CLOs at the end of last year, Ares Management reportedly priced a second European CLO in February, and Apollo secured a new credit line reported by Bloomberg that could fund its debt arm's loan origination or purchases.