Second lien issuance reaches $6.8B so far in 1Q18

Syndicated and privately placed second lien loan volume has reached US$6.8bn so far in 1Q18, which is not too far behind 4Q17’s volume of US$8.6bn. Issuers continue to rely on second lien facilities to maximize their leverage as 61% of the second liens tranches have been used to finance M&A this quarter.