Survey: Where are we in the credit cycle?  Thirty-nine percent of buyside and sellside institutions in the room at Fitch Ratings and Thomson Reuters LPC’s Loan & CLO Conference  last Thursday felt that we are already headed into a correction and in the late stages of the credit cycle, up from just 4% in both…

Secondary market oil and gas loan prices have continued to climb recently in tandem with higher oil prices. Oil and gas loans are now up over 16 points from their February low, though their average bid is still a relatively low 70 cents on the dollar. There is also a wide variation in prices across…

Large arrangers have gained enough confidence to arrange and syndicate second lien facilities this quarter in the leveraged loan market. So far in 2Q16, US$2.4bn in second lien tranches have closed, a 60% improvement  from the US$1.52bn last quarter. And several second liens have even been used to finance dividend recaps – a testament to…

According to Thomson Reuters LPC’s year-end survey, the majority of buyside and sellside institutions surveyed estimated that roughly 40% of managers had a Risk Retention solution in place. Maybe not quite put the structure and funding in place but as we approach December 24th, managers have not just been evaluating the various solutions out there,…

Downward flexes continue at the forefront of flex activity so far in May. There have been three times more downward price flexes than upward price revisions this month. However, with nine downward flexes so far, May is trailing the 24 price cuts tracked in April. Terms continue to favor issuers this quarter, and at 33…

Assets under management (AUM) increased in April for both U.S. CLOs and retail loan funds. CLO AUM edged up to $430 billion, while loan mutual funds & ETFs AUM increased to nearly $112 billion. Over the past year, CLOs and retail loan funds have experienced contrasting fortunes. In that time period, U.S. CLO AUM is…

The share of unitranche financings in the Mittelstand leveraged loan market has risen to 22% of of total issuance on a deal count basis in the first quarter of 2016, an all-time high according to numbers compiled by Thomson Reuters LPC.  Mittelstand is the middle market for the Germany, Austria and Switzerland region, comprising corporates…

Lender Survey: Are you seeing cracks in your portfolio?  Yes, we are seeing signs of cracks in credit quality in our portfolios, said roughly  42% of the nearly 400 attendees gathered at the Marriott in Times Square for Thomson Reuters LPC’s 4th Annual Middle Market Loans Conference last week. While these respondents said some companies…

Credit concerns have increased this year as defaults, while still low by historical standards, continue to move higher. The U.S. leveraged loan default rate ended the first quarter at 2.8%, up from 2% in the previous quarter, and up from 1% a year ago, according to Moody’s. In the first quarter, $7.3 billion of leveraged…

Exploration and production companies continue to feel the crunch from low oil prices, which began their slide in mid-2014.  While oil prices have rebounded from this year’s February lows, the uplift is facing major headwinds as OPEC members and Russia recently announced they wouldn’t freeze production.  Many companies have filed for bankruptcy and more are expected…