April was down, as expected Download PitchBook’s Report here. An early look at April 2020 deal volume shows the significant decline we’ve all been anticipating. Only 158 transactions were completed last month, less than half of the typical monthly volume we were seeing pre-pandemic. As we’ve noted in the past, some of these deals were announced
MM Sponsored dealflow pipeline expected to remain anemic through summer Middle market syndicated loan issuance remains extremely thin for sponsor-backed deals so far in 2Q20. Volume has only reached about US$1.6bn so far in 2Q20 with zero opportunistic flow such as refinancings or dividend recaps. Anecdotally, lenders indicate that the M&A pipeline is extremely thin
Non-Accruals across lower middle market portfolios rise to 7.5% Effects of the coronavirus lifted the average non-accrual rate across lower middle market BDC portfolios by 1.7%, to 7.5% in the first quarter. Out of $5.8 billion of outstanding first- and second-lien term loans, $436 million was on non-accrual across 42 borrowers, up from $331 million
Fund Managers Response to COVID-19 Although fundraising is slowing in the wake of the economic fallout from COVID-19, most alternatives fund managers appear to be staying the course. From a survey conducted by Preqin to fund managers, three-quarters said that they do not plan to change their investment strategy for any active funds as a
Will coronavirus prompt a new wave of distress? One of the long-term impacts of the global financial crisis was a sharp uptick in non-performing loans as lax underwriting standards prior to the crisis and the global recession that followed created a perfect storm where over-levered borrowers were unable to repay their debts....
Pricing, OIDs also widen for double B issuers in today’s market Pricing for double-B rated issuers has widened significantly this quarter. The average yield, assuming a three-year term to repayment, on first-lien institutional term loans for BB rated issuers is 6.19% so far this quarter, up from a much lower average of 3.94% in 1Q20.
The consolidation question Download PitchBook’s Report here. If the current downturn mimics the 2008 financial crisis, private equity may see a few years of industry consolidation before diversifying again. In 2007, on the eve of the GFC, firms with at least $10B in AUM accounted for about 41.1% of the industry’s capital....
Special Situations Gather Momentum Private debt fundraising has slowed down in 2020 – so far this year, there have been 44 funds closed raising a combined $35bn. Strategy wise, direct lending continued to dominate the market closing 10 funds in Q1 2020...
Crunch time for the BDC market Current trading is looking bleak for BDCs, but they’ve come through even worse in the past. BDCs are expected to see significant write-downs and defaults on portfolio company loans because revenues collapsed in much of the economy. A decline in the net asset value of BDCs may end up
Avg. bid on Refinitiv’s BDC Visible Loans Benchmark remains at the 80 context Loans held by business development companies with mark-to-market pricing have stabilized in the 80 context in the last few days. Refinitiv’s BDC Visible Loans Benchmark provides investors with a daily mark on roughly US$20bn in first and second lien loans held by