The long awaited pick-up in M&A-related lending is finally making a comeback this year. The second quarter has seen many deals coming to market and many others are in the works, bringing much coveted M&A loans into market.
With almost five months into the year, M&A loan issuance has reached $158 billion and an additional $50 billion is in the pipeline. At $208 billion, M&A issuance is on track to beating last year’s $361 billion and if the pace continues, issuance could approach 2007’s record $472 billion. So far this year, 80 percent of total completed M&A issuance comes from leveraged transactions, the highest percentage since 2003, and higher than 2007’s 76 percent. Many transactions are for corporate issuers, which have contributed $68 billion so far to total leveraged M&A issuance. And more are in the works. Pilgrim Pride, for instance is considering issuing up to $6 billion in debt to finance a bid for Hillshire Brands, sources said.
Latest news
US Private Credit Transparency Highlights Uneven BDC Performance
Credit performance across business development company (BDC) portfolios remains uneven, although reported losses and non-accruals were broadly stable quarter over quarter, according to Fitch Ratings’ Private Credit Transparency Monitor for 2Q26.
Density of TVPI at 10 years after inception by fund size
Marquee managers seem to be victims of their own success. Strong performance brings in more capital, and the desire to grow AUM and please public shareholders inevitably leads to returns clustered around the market average.