In early 2020, just before Covid came crashing down on our heads, we were in the middle of a Lead Left series called “Ten Top Myths About Private Credit”. Myth #5, published on February 20, was “No one uses mezzanine debt anymore.” We felt compelled, after a decade of increasingly aggressive senior and unitranche financings,…

This space has covered at length the investor-friendly changes in senior debt terms since the Fed began its rate hiking regime in March 2022. We recently spent time speaking with junior capital providers about the state of mezz terms today. “Junior capital spreads have widened out 50 to 100 bps from the end of last…

We continue our discussion this week on why private mezzanine is going from strength to strength amid current economic and market conditions. “We did zero mezzanine deals last year,” one junior capital provider told us. “This year we’ve already done half-a-dozen. We’re getting calls from sponsors that don’t typically use mezz. Deal flow is up…

It’s been a while since we felt the need to reiterate the case for junior capital. Back in December 2015 the senior debt market was in full swing recovery from the Great Recession. Interest rates were at rock-bottom lows, and senior spreads were near their post-GFC tights. Unitranche financings were growing in popularity and size…