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Private Debt Intelligence - 4/10/2017

Q1 2017 Private Debt Fundraising

After a sluggish start to 2016, private debt fundraising saw a huge acceleration in pace over the year, and secured a record $50bn of investor capital in the final quarter of the year. While the opening quarter of 2017 failed to match this activity, momentum has nonetheless continued into the year with fundraising expected to maintain or increase this pace in the coming months...

The Pulse of Private Equity - 4/10/2017

Is the PE industry on pace for lower net cash flows?

Since 2012, net cash flows of private equity funds worldwide have been positive, with the last three full years handily exceeding $130 billion apiece. With fund returns through the middle of 2016, however, net cash flows currently stand at $27.0 billion, putting the back half of 2016 under considerable stress to even leave the year at more than $100 billion. This diminishing metric is attributable to a variety of factors, including the slow winding down of the buyout cycle in addition to a sluggish exit market...

Markit Recap – 4/3/2017

Many names have a certain kind of notoriety in the CDS market. TXU, Hellenic Republic and more recently iHeart – all posed significant challenges to the efficacy of the CDS product.

Another prime example is Novo Banco. The Portuguese name was created as a "good bank" in the restructuring of Banco Espirito Santo in August 2014. This was immediately prior to the introduction of the ISDA 2014 definitions in September of that year. The good bank/bad bank split highlighted some of the flaws in the 2003 definitions: namely senior debt restructurings triggering subordinated CDS and ambiguity around state bail-out of financials...

Elements of Corporate Risk (First of a Series)

Institutional investors are combing through the private credit market searching both for higher returns and experienced managers to deliver those returns. The key to understanding why some firms are targeting higher yield investments is to also appreciate the kind of credit risks those managers are taking to achieve those yields. In this special series, we’ll…

Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis - 4/3/2017

1Q17 M&A volume down 32% year over year as market waits on policy guidance out of Washington

M&A loan issuance declined dramatically year over year to log less than US$70Bn in 1Q17, down 32% compared to the year ago results (US$102Bn). This represented the lowest quarterly results since 1Q13. Although some of the market shortfall on a percentage basis should be qualified in that jumbo financings for Avago Technology and Kraton Polymers which were completed in 1Q16 were in fact structured in 2015, the market took a very real pause in 1Q17 as issuers waited on the new administration in Washington...

Debtwire Middle-Market – 4/3/2017

Source: Cliffwater Direct Lending Index and BofA Merrill Lynch US High Yield Effective Yield The red line in the chart is the *Cliffwater Direct Lending Index (CDLI) current yield, which is based on the investment income of the underlying assets held by public and private BDCs.  BDCs invest in middle market companies, and the Index…