Lofty yields — 12%— and little supply to pressure unitranche spreads Unitranche yields in the KBRA DLD Private Data portfolio averaged 12% for the 90-day period ended Jan. 31, up from 6.6% a year ago. The current reading is the highest in our two-year, $270 billion library and potentially the highest since the GCC. The…

Benign decline: Volume eases 14% YoY in DLD’s Private Data set KBRA DLD tracked $3.8 billion in new-issue volume last month across sponsored, U.S. borrowers. Managers said new business felt slower than usual for the start of the year, and indeed, the tally in our Private Data set was down 14% from January 2022. The…

Private Funds Finance: Big cushions offer protection against defaults The private credit market is about to face its biggest stress test yet: Borrowing costs have more than doubled in the past 12 months for portfolio companies, and the Fed signaled last week that additional rate hikes were in the works for 2023. KBRA DLD’s parent,…

YTD volume up 77%; October falls just 15.3% YoY U.S. direct lending is thriving in 2022, with year-to-date volume up 77%, according to KBRA DLD. Volume recorded through October totaled $122 billion, up from $69 billion through the same period last year. By contrast, U.S. leveraged loan and high yield volumes have tanked under steep…

Managers could face 16% increase in cash-flow challenged issuers next year Portfolio managers are potentially facing a 16% rise in the number of borrowers that cannot generate enough cash flow to meet interest expenses by the end of 2023, based on an analysis by KBRA DLD’s new parent, Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA). The analysis…

KBRA DLD records $39B for 3Q22 volume, tops BSL & HY combined Direct lending volume topped output for liquid credit in the third quarter for the first time since KBRA DLD started tracking this data in January 2021. New issuance for US sponsored direct lending finished at $39 billion, nudging ahead of the $38 billion…

Dry July: Jumbo volume deflates Private jumbo financings (>=$1B) have the advantage under current market conditions, but deals going forward are expected to trend smaller for the first time since DLD started tracking these credits in September 2019. There are several issues affecting capacity: 1) managers invested much of last year’s record capital in the…

Private lending volume posts strong quarter, but a slowdown lies ahead Direct Lending Deals’ Private Data set picked up $56.9 billion in sponsored U.S. loan volume during the second quarter, to rebound from a weak first quarter of $20 billion, and beat the $40.4 billion recorded during the private lending binge that drove the final…

Jumbo volume in 1H 2022 reaches $30.8 billion to bring total tally to $86.5B Volume in the first half of 2022 for private loans sized at $1 billion or more has reached $30.8 billion, a level that dwarfs the $9.5 billion recorded in the same period last year, according to Direct Lending Deals. On a…