The shrinking of balance sheets has become a common theme in recent years, particularly in the financial sector. Investors are punishing banks that either unwilling or unable to implement a more conservative financial strategy. It is increasingly clear that the same phenomenon is now observed in the commodities sector. Mining firms need to scale back their…
Discounts on first-lien institutional term loans haven’t been this wide since 2011. The average original issue discount (OID) is 98.02 so far this quarter, almost on par with 4Q15’s 97.98 average. Only 13% of first-lien institutional term loans have been done at an OID of 99.5 or narrower this quarter, slightly down from 16% last…
2015 Sees U.S. PE Fundraisers Slow Down U.S. private equity fund managers have had a fair measure of success lately. Last year, the median time it took a fund to close was 12.8 months, one of the shorter times on record, while over 87% of funds raised hit their target, for the second year in…
European credit markets, led by the banking sector, have seen risk escalate over the past several weeks with the Markit iTraxx Europe Main index seeing it’s spread widen to June 2013 highs. One relative bright spot however, has been the region’s sovereign credit, which has largely steered clear of the contagion developed in the corporate…
Despite hopes that 2016 would start off on stronger footing than 2015 closed, market volatility intensified in January. The Merrill Lynch HY Cash Pay Bond Index continued to demonstrate substantial downward pressure driven by macro volatility rooted in global growth prospects. Average bids hovered south of 86.5 by the end of last month, down from 89.16…
28% of U.S. PE Capital Overhang Predates 2013 Vintages Over a quarter of U.S. private equity dry powder is locked up in vintages from 2012 or earlier. That represents about $147 billion total that PE firms have on hand that now exceeds, give or take, three or more years in age—all these figures are sourced…
UK linkers outperform despite falling inflation expectations Despite the UK’s monetary policy committee highlighting weak inflation today, inflation-linked gilts have proved to be a strong investment so far this year. UK inflation-linked gilts have returned 5% so far this year, outperforming gilts by 0.8%… Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in here...
January CLO issuance down dramatically year over year CLO arrangers logged a mere 2 new issues totalling less than US$830 million in January 2016. This was down significantly compared to the year ago period during which over US$5 billion in new CLO vehicles were completed via 9 issues. The slowdown of CLO… Subscribe to Read
Median PE Hold Times for the U.S. Middle Market Drop For the first time in years, private equity firms saw their U.S. median hold periods for middle-market portfolio companies decline over the past couple years. After climbing to unprecedented highs in 2014—six years for companies that were later… Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log
Last year the Markit iBoxx € Banks index was one of the outperforming bond sectors in Europe having returned 1.0%. The index which is largely made up of bonds issued by European banks, even managed to outperform defensive sectors such as Healthcare and Utilities, while Europe’s ongoing regulatory oversight and relaxed monetary… Subscribe to Read