In his 1985 best-selling “A Passion for Excellence,” Tom Peters tells the story of General Bill Creech, who led a reorganization of the US military’s airplane maintenance crews. His NCO’s process improvement plan involved assigning personnel to the same planes over extended periods of time, rather than switching them out more quickly.
When the general asked why this approach made more sense, the officer replied, “General, when’s the last time you washed a rental car?” Peters continues, “None of us washes our rental cars...
“Some of the noise I see in the market isn’t really representative of what we see in our portfolio.” – Mark Glengarry, senior vice president, Blackstone (Bloomberg).
Featuring Charts
Chart of the Week: Lower for Longer
Direct lending defaults lead credit categories in low defaults, though headed higher. Source: KBRA DLD Default Research
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Chart of the Week: Higher for Longer
Larger LBO financings in direct lending are sporting increasingly higher leverage. Source: KBRA DLD Research, 3-month rolling averages
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Chart of the Week: Gone Fishing
On November 5th, the 2025 government shutdown became the longest in US history. Source: The Daily Shot
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Chart of the Week: Equity and the Emirates
UAE’s shift from oil-centric to a broader industrial economy will propel PE investments. Source: imarc
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Chart of the Week: Auto Correct
The value of First Brand loans was close to par – until it wasn’t. Source: Bloomberg, S&P Capital IQ, iCapital Investment Strategy
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Chart of the Week: MENA Wealth
Of the top ten largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, four are Middle Eastern. Source: Bloomberg
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Features
PDI Picks – 11/17/2025
North America consolidates fundraising dominance We reveal some of the preliminary findings from our PDI 200 ranking of private credit’s most successful fundraisers. Through the PDI 200, Private Debt Investor charts the biggest fundraisers in the industry over a rolling five-year period. As the private credit industry has grown, so too has this ranking, which…
The Pulse of Private Equity – 11/10/2025
PE nowcast versus reported return Download PitchBook’s Report here. The PE Barometer remains in neutral territory with a score of 57, producing a nowcast of 3.9% and a desmoothed nowcast of 4.8% for Q3 2025…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in here...
Bloomberg: Leveraged Lending Insights – 11/10/2025
M&A Gains Momentum Amid October Slowdown in Leveraged Loan Market Click here to access Bloomberg’s US Leveraged Finance Chartbook October saw a notable decline in US institutional leveraged loan activity, with 72 deals totaling $62.7b marking a 32.7% decrease from September’s $93.2b, and the slowest monthly volume since May ($31.6b). This brings year-to-date issuance to…
Middle Market & Private Credit – 11/10/2025
U.S. Business Development Companies Outlook 2026 Click here to download report. Fitch Ratings has a ‘deteriorating’ sector outlook for U.S. business development companies (BDCs) in 2026, due to pressure on earnings and dividend coverage from declining interest rates and elevated payment-in-kind (PIK) income…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in here...
Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis – 11/10/2025
US repricings slow in early 3Q25 as new loan assets re-emerge US leveraged lenders completed just under US$18bn of repriced institutional loan volume during the month of October, down from over US$23bn in September and less than half of August totals (US$43bn) and one fifth of July results (US$94.2bn)…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member?
Middle Market Deal Terms at a Glance
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Beginning in July 2022 The Lead Left published a series of articles on credit market. This report consolidates those articles.
Cov-lite trends Inflation & rising interest rates – LIBOR to SOFR transition Mega-tranche uni trend ESG takes center stage Login to view interactive report and download PDF version. … Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in here Related posts: 2H 2021 Midyear Outlook Report State of the Capital Markets – Fourth Quarter 2016 Review and
Beginning in September 2021 The Lead Left published a series of articles on supply chain. This report consolidates those articles.
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