Investors’ search for higher yields and Wall Street’s shift to a new interest-rate benchmark powered a record year in sales of collateralized loan obligations—securities made of bundles of low-rated corporate loans.

Asset managers including Ares Management Corp. and PGIM Inc. are on pace to finish the year with more than $186 billion in new CLO sales, according to Leveraged Commentary & Data. That is a record high in data going back to 2011, smashing 2018’s previous yearly record of $128.9 billion.