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Business of Private Credit: Coming Home
Much attention has been paid to the suitability of Matt Damon in the lead role as the wily Odysseus in this summer’s Christopher Nolan blockbuster.
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August 12, 2026 
Software, consumer-related direct lending deals fell in H1'26
The software and technology sector, the second-most-active sector in 2025 at 17% of total deal activity, slid to fifth place in the first half of 2026.
Business of Private Credit: Safety, Not Size
Even the best credit managers have loans that go bad. What separates them from everyone else is the history and experience they bring to working these problems out.
Spread premium tightened slightly in Q2'26
One bright spot for lenders in Q2 was that average spreads edged higher for the second straight quarter.
PE middle-market pooled IRR and TVPI by TEV size bucket
The lower end of the middle market has generated better returns on average and does not come with significantly more left-tail risk
LMM credits earned a 46.5 bps spread premium in Q2'26
Lower middle-market lenders held their risk/return edge over larger deals in the second quarter.
Business of Private Credit: Playing to Your Strengths
“Show me a great credit, and I’ll show you a great sponsor behind it.”
For this series, we’ve focused on how core middle market lenders underwrite a borrower.
Sponsored MM leverage falls to its lowest level since 1Q23
Total leverage on sponsored middle market transactions declined to 4.40x in 2Q26 from 4.51x in 1Q26, reaching its lowest level…
US Direct Lending Spread Per Turn of Leverage Widens
Wider spreads and slightly lower leverage provided lenders with better risk-adjusted pricing across all deal sizes in the second quarter.
Concentrated Effort
Tech deals favored upper end of market, especially in 2021 when software valuations peaked. Source: KBRA DLD Research
Business of Private Credit: Sectors and SIC Codes
We’ve spent the last few weeks covering the businesses of the core middle market. Does that same discipline hold when you move up market?
PE middle-market TVPI and DPI by fund vintage
Going forward, we expect that returns will be driven by disciplined buying and operational value creation, rather than…
Share of PE middle-market fund count by size bucket
LPs facing constrained distributions are concentrating commitments with a shorter list of established, brand-name managers…
From Lead Left to The Lead: Randy Schwimmer on private credit's Platinum Era
A special edition – Bloomberg Radio’s Paul Sweeney turns the tables on Randy Schwimmer to celebrate the relaunch of The Lead Left as The Lead.
Well Prompted
The best managers know which prompts to write, and which answers to act on. Source: FTI Consulting
Business of Private Credit: Claude Says
Even chatbots know AI won’t have a one-size-fits-all impact on the middle market. Yet for the last year or so, the market has treated AI disruption as a storm cloud hanging over every private credit portfolio.
Business of Private Credit: Coming Home
Much attention has been paid to the suitability of Matt Damon in the lead role as the wily Odysseus in this summer’s Christopher Nolan blockbuster.