1Q22 US Syndicated loan volume down over 36% y-o-y US lenders booked less than US$455bn of loan volume via retail syndication in 1Q22, a 36% decline year over year and a 37% drop quarter over quarter. The results marked the lowest quarterly totals since 4Q20 and the weakest 1Q results in three years. Uncertainty in…
BDC technology lending has grown rapidly Strong portfolio company performance has underpinned the positive environment for BDCs in recent quarters, with Ebitda and revenues moving significantly higher over the last two years. At the sector level, technology has outperformed. Against that backdrop, BDC managers shifted their allocations toward technology credits…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a
How big of a unitranche could we see this year? The “mega-unitranche” reached new scale in 2021, as private lenders’ capacity to finance large transactions continued to increase. Unitranche loan issuance exploded to US$151bn in 2021, from US$41.5bn the prior year. This included US$86bn of large corporate unitranches, up from US$18bn the prior year…. Subscribe
US LBO first-lien leverage at all-time high Total leverage on US LBO deals continues to hover around the 7.1x mark in 1Q22, the same area its averaged over the last seven quarters. What is different this quarter is an increase in first-lien leverage which is averaging 5.9x so far, the highest level tracked all-time. So…
BDC loan valuations stabilize in most recent filing period The most recent data from BDC earnings season shows that debt valuations stabilized in 4Q21, as price appreciation finally eased off, following a huge rebound from the lows seen in 1Q20 when COVID first hit. Looking at the cohort of BDCs that have filed as of…
BDCs post further NAV gains BDC earnings season is underway, with funds that have filed to date posting positive performance overall in 4Q21, topping off a strong year for the asset class. BDC earnings climbed in 2021 against a backdrop of robust portfolio company performance and record origination activity. BDC origination activity was bolstered…
More institutional deals get done without a CSA this month The institutional loan market has mostly shifted to a term SOFR base rate this year. While there are a few deals that have been done at a spread over Libor, these are on the decline. Only 11% of institutional term loans so far in February…
BDC visible loans benchmark edges lower year-to-date Valuations of actively marked BDC loans have edged marginally lower so far in 2022, continuing the trend seen in 4Q21. This follows a sharp appreciation in valuations during the 1-3Q21 time-period as companies bounced back from COVID hit 2020. The Refinitiv LPC BDC Visible Loans Benchmark (comprised of…
New LBO loan assets increase as a proportion of total PE buyout activity Private equity sponsors actively tapped the loan market in 2021 to back over US$196bn in buyout activity, the second highest total on record and just behind 2007’s historic totals north of US$200bn. More significantly, over US$126bn or 64% of total issuance represented…
Direct lending drives sponsored middle market issuance to new record Direct lending drove sponsored middle market loan issuance to new heights in 4Q21 and full-year 2021, as sponsors tapped the market at a blistering pace to fund LBOs and add-on acquisitions. Direct lending activity spiked to US$131bn in 2021, almost doubling 2020’s volume and topping…