Unitranche loses favor in 1Q17 as sponsors gravitate toward second-lien

A recent middle market lender survey revealed that sponsors are favoring the first­/second­ lien structure according to 42% of respondents. Meanwhile, in the survey carried out by Thomson Reuters LPC, 27% said the unitranche is the most favored structure by sponsors today. This is a meaningful departure from this time last year when half of the buyside and sellside survey respondents said sponsors preferred the unitranche structure. More onerous call protection, higher pricing and the need for covenants are typical of the unitranche...

Repricing wave will push institutional issuance close to quarterly record

Strong demand for floating rate assets has caused a frenzy in the leveraged loan market this quarter where issuers have been flocking to market to lower the spread on their institutional facilities. This has in turn caused institutional loan volume to spike, reaching US$149.5bn in completed issuance through February 15th. With roughly half a quarter remaining, completed institutional issuance is the fifth highest on record and about US$50bn lower than the US$199bn record set in 1Q13. Breaking down the numbers highlights the refinancing boom...

Covenant-lite volume will likely hit another record high in 1Q17

Covenant-lite loan volume has already reached US$90 bn in 1Q17 with two more months still left to go this quarter. With another US$35bn still in process, 1Q17 will likely be a brand new record high for covenant-lite issuance. Covy-lite volume had just hit a brand new record high last quarter at US$128bn, smashing the previous record set in 1Q14. These robust volumes are largely taking place during big refinancing waves like in the current environment...

Overall LBO leverage on the rise in 1Q17

Average leverage levels on both large corporate and institutional middle market LBO deals have shown a meaningful jump in 1Q17. With refinancings and repricings dominating the leveraged loan market, investors seem more willing to stretch on new money LBO deals. The average leverage level so far in 1Q17 is at 5.0 times first lien and 6.50 times total debt to EBITDA, up from 4.6 times senior by 6.1 times total last quarter...

Strong retail fund inflows help fuel the leveraged loan market

Investors have been pouring money into retail loan funds in recent months. This has helped fuel demand in the leveraged loan market. Last week, investors placed US$1.02bn into retail loan funds, the second time in three weeks the US$1bn mark was eclipsed. It was also the tenth week out of the last eleven that there was over US$500m invested in loan funds. With the increased demand in loans, it is no surprise the leveraged loan market has kept busy...

Unitranche volume grows while deal sizes get bigger

As money continues to pour into the middle market searching for yield, the unitranche structure continues to gain traction. Unitranche volume reached US$13.3bn in 2016, up from US$8.5bn in 2015. Bigger deals were seen in 2016 as more and more lenders continued to build scale and increase their hold size. The average deal size was $198M in 3Q16 and $129M in 4Q16. But 50% of unitranches continue to be in the $0-$100M deal size area...

Non-sponsored MM new money picked up in 2016; refinancings dropped

Non-sponsored lending dropped to US$86bn in 2016 from US$93bn in 2015. In contrast with every other major market segment (overall, leveraged, investment-grade, institutional, middle market sponsored) which witnessed a quarter over quarter increase in volume in 4Q16, non-sponsored middle market lending of US$22bn, was down 7%. Refinancings, the main driver of volume since the credit crisis, were down 21% in 2016 to US$53bn. Most of the refinancings were done in previous years and there was not that much in the form of opportunistic refinancings as pricing has somewhat stabilized in this market...

2016 middle market syndicated loan issuance lowest since 2009

Middle market syndicated loan issuance only reached US$139bn in 2016, down 3% from 2015 levels and the lowest annual level tracked since 2009. Several factors drove the lower levels. The non-sponsored market was the biggest culprit as issuers had no incentive to hit the market to refinance as long term financings were locked in during previous years. Furthermore, slow growth and uncertainty surrounding the economy and macro events such as...

Just shy of US$2tr 2016 US syndicated loan volume is flat year over year

US arrangers pushed almost US$2 Tr through retail syndication in 2016, levels on par with 2015 totals but down modestly compared to the US$2.1tr raised in 2014. The year got off to a slow start as the market volatility that was observed in the oil and gas and commodities sectors in late 2015 carried over to the first quarter of 2016, dampening lender appetite and limiting the pipeline of deals...

2016 MM CLO volume hits highest level post credit crisis

While the upcoming risk retention rules have certainly slowed broadly syndicated CLO volume in 2016, the middle market has bucked the trend. Middle market CLO issuance has reached US$7.7bn so far in 2016, surpassing last year's $5.8bn and reaching the highest level since 2007. This is a pleasant surprise as most managers that took LPC's Middle Market Investor Survey at the beginning of the year were only expecting to see around US $4.5bn in issuance this year...