TheLeadLeft

The Pulse of Private Equity - 1/22/2018

A once-in-a-decade fundraising market Download PitchBook’s Report click here. Private equity is a scalable asset class. The same isn’t true for every asset class in the private market – venture funds, for example, tend to lose effectiveness if they grow too large, regardless of sector. Not so with PE, which broadens its target range with…

And Such Small Portions (Last of a Series)

In case our readers missed the reference of our series title, the joke goes like this: Mel and Harry are lunching at a diner. ”The food here stinks,” Mel complains. “Overcooked, expensive, and no taste.” “Yeah,” Harry says. “And such small portions!” We’ve invoke this old chestnut as a metaphor for the state of middle…

Lead Left Interview - Jim Hudak

This week we chatted with Jim Hudak, President, CIT Commercial Finance. Jim has been with CIT and predecessor companies (AT&T Capital, Newcourt, Tyco) since 1991. He has also run the Corporate Finance Group at CIT, which comprises leading industry verticals in Aerospace & Defense, Commercial & Industrial, Communications, Media & Entertainment, Energy and Healthcare. The…

Private Debt Intelligence - 1/22/2018

Average Private Debt Fund Sizes Peak in 2017 2017 was a record fundraising year for the private debt industry, as 140 vehicles secured a total of $106bn from investors. The average size of funds rose to $843mn, continuing a trend seen over the past five years of vehicles becoming larger and larger. Average fund size…

And Such Small Portions (First of a Series)

Last fall we ran a special series on the size of the middle middle for loans (“How Big is the Middle Market”). This week we re-examine that question with Kelly Thompson, the middle market analyst for LevFin Insights. In a recent report, Kelly discussed both the volume of middle market loan activity in 2017 as…

Lead Left Interview - Robert Radway (Part 2)

This week we continue our conversation with Robert Radway, chairman and chief executive officer of NXT Capital. Started in 2010, NXT is a finance company that is focused on middle market corporate finance and commercial real estate along with having a very significant asset management platform. Prior to NXT Robert Radway was founder and president…

Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis - 1/15/2018

U.S. new issue CLOs reached US$117bn in 2017 with an additional US$165bn in CLO refis and resets  Although loan fund outflows have been more frequent since the fall, US$12.7bn flowed into mutual funds in 2017. Separate managed account money grew as pensions, endowments and family offices along with insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds allocated…