TheLeadLeft

The Pulse of Private Equity - 8/4/2014

The Fundraising Trail is OPEN The private equity fundraising trail has been wide open of late, with the last four quarters seeing at least 70 funds close each quarter. Over the last 18 months, U.S. PE funds have picked up $291 billion across 418 different funds. 2014 won’t be quite as big as 2013,… Login

Are We Back to 2007? (Last of a series)

Predictions are tough, especially about the future. And after Thursday’s Dow tumble, it’s hard to dismiss outright doomsday forecasts that a credit apocalypse is coming soon. For leveraged lending bubble busters, their canaries in the capital coal mine are leveraged statistics. Are we past 2007’s high-water mark? To be sure, we’re hearing our share of…

Markit Recap - 8/4/2014

The legal machinations of the CDS market are probably not the main concern of Portugal’s national government and its biggest bank. But the travails of Banco Espirito Santo (BES) are certainly capturing the attention of credit investors, not least because of its potential significance in a changing regulatory environment. BES has been under pressure since…

Markit Recap - 7/28/2014

A company’s credit rating gets placed on review for downgrade, and its CDS spreads stage their biggest one-day rally on record? This appears like a contrarian market reaction, regardless of one’s views on the rating agencies and their performance in recent times…. Login to Read More...

Are We Back to 2007? (Third of a series)

“What’s the definition of an overheated market? One loan and two lenders.” That’s the supply/demand conundrum in the leveraged loan market today. While institutional and retail cash have certainly re-entered the asset class with vigor since the credit crisis, overall levels are not more than those enjoyed during 2007. Indeed, the short-term outlook might see…

The Pulse of Private Equity - 7/28/2014

Not that long ago, it would seem strange to see news of a private equity firm buying a venture-backed company; in today’s private company market, though, it is becoming a weekly, and almost daily, occurrence. In 2013, there were 102 of these deals. Based on the first half of 2014, we expect the year to…

Lead Left Interview - Michael J. Hall (Part Two)

This week we continue our conversation with Michael J. Hall, managing partner at Yukon Capital Partners. Yukon provides mezzanine capital to middle market businesses with a focus on deals controlled by private equity sponsors. Second of two parts – View part one The Lead Left: How did equity co-investments get started?  Michael J. Hall: It wasn’t always a feature,…

Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis - 7/28/2014

The middle market is quite a diverse market place and yields vary based on lender type and EBITDA size. In 2Q14, moving down market to lend TLBs to smaller private middle market issuers resulted in a nice 70bps premium for first lien deals over rated, public middle market institutional deals. However, while there is a premium…