OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings said in a new report that European SME CLOs saw stable performance in August. Average 90-day delinquencies in Spain continued to decline, down at 2.2% in August from 2.33% July while Italian 90-day arrears remained stable at 1.96%.

August saw the upgrade of the class B notes by Fitch of 2014 Poplare Bari SME to 'AAsf' from 'A+sf', following a large increase in credit enhancement to 50.6% from 35.6%. This increase was due to the A1 notes being fully redeemed and a large principal payment being made to the class A2 notes. The A2 notes were not upgraded from 'AA+sf' as their rating is capped at this level by Italy's sovereign rating. Last month also saw Piazza Venezia S.r.l.'s senior tranche repay in full.

The September edition of its SME CLO Compare, which tracks the performance of all SME CLO transactions monitored by Fitch based on investor reports, is available at www.fitchratings.com.