Spread differential between a unitranche and
first-lien loan remains near all-time tights

Chart

The middle market sponsored loan arena has kicked off 2020 with a slow start in the syndicated loan market. Refinitiv LPC has only tracked about US$2bn in volume, which trails this time last year of US$3.7bn by 46%. The average first-lien spread on sponsor-backed deals syndicated so far is 458bp, slightly higher than the 451bp tracked in 4Q19.