The Lead Left

3Q20 MM sponsored loan issuance picks up from 2Q20’s low, but still quite anemic Sponsor-backed middle market volume showed a pick up in 3Q20 to US$5.6bn, up 120% from 2Q20’s post credit crisis low. But volume was still quite dire and over 62% behind 3Q19’s level. While pricing has been tightening dramatically month after month,

Carveouts – up but not booming Download PitchBook’s Report here. One of the earliest predictions back in March was that PE-led carveout activity would go up. PEGs had dry powder to spend and corporate sellers had liquidity concerns—they were also going to need to concentrate on their core businesses, so it made intuitive sense than ancillary

Direct Lending and mezzanine strategies gathered most of the capital in Q3 2020 In Q3 2020, private debt fund managers were able to secure $8.4bn by 20 funds closed. What fund types stood out? Direct lending and mezzanine strategies secured the bulk of capital, raising $3.8bn and $2.6bn respectively....

What to make of direct lenders’ prospects? Direct lending has enjoyed years of tailwinds – now it must confront the headwinds. Direct lending has experienced enormous growth since the global financial crisis (see chart showing fundraising for various direct lending-relevant strategies), filling a gap that retrenching banks left behind....

1-3Q20 Leveraged volume up 6% y-o-y; Asset mix skews toward HY bond issuance US Leveraged borrowers pushed nearly US$839bn of issuance through the market during the first nine months of 2020, a 6% increase over the same time last year. Although the totals did not shift dramatically year over, the mix of loans and bonds