TheLeadLeft

Chart of the Week - Buy-outs vs. Cash-outs

Despite their reputation as riskier loans, dividends to sponsors have a 20-year history of lower defaults than the original buyout financings. Leveraged Loan Defaults by Purpose (1995-2014) Source: S&P Capital IQ

The Pulse of Private Equity - 7/27/2015

Take-privates making a comeback? One of the big differences between today’s M&A boom and 2007’s comes down to which buyers were involved. Almost a decade ago, PE firms were the muscle behind M&A. Mega-buyouts in the $10B+ category were common, inflating overall deal activity to record levels. Today’s market is… Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a

Lead Left Interview - Tom Lesch

This week we chat with Tom Lesch, Director, Livingstone. Livingstone is a global M&A and debt advisory firm with six international offices including Chicago. Its core industry sectors include Business Services, Consumer, Healthcare, Industrial and Media & Technology. The Lead Left: Tom, it’s been a while since we last talked. What’s new at your firm?…

Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis - 7/27/2015

M&A loan volume gets another boost via $27B bridge; Pipeline north of $90 billion The M&A loan market – and more specifically investment grade lenders – got a nice boost in the form of a $27 billion bridge loan backing Anthem Inc.’s $54.2 billion acquisition of Cigna Corp this week. The announced… Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a

Markit Recap – 7/20/2015

The all-important deadline of July 20 has passed without incident, Greece having redeemed its debt to the ECB with the help of a bridging loan. This doesn’t mean the crisis in Greece is resolved – far from it – but it does give the market some breathing space. We remarked last week that China may…

Dividends Without Tears

It’s that time of year again. We’re not referring to barbecues and Slip ‘N Slides, although both hot and liquid could be used to describe conditions in leveraged lending today. No, we mean it’s time to sit back and watch as dividend recaps come alive again. S&P Capital IQ’s Steve Miller had a great note…

Lead Left Interview - John Brignola (Part 2)

This week we continue our conversation with John Brignola, managing partner, LBC Credit Partners. LBC is a leading provider of middle market financing solutions supporting sponsored and non-sponsored transactions. LBC has over $1.75 billion of capital commitments and has made over $3.2 billion in investments in a wide range of industries located throughout North America. Second…