iTraxx Europe – options can influence volumes Fundamental factors rightly garner the most attention when investors try to ascertain why markets move. Even if one regards markets as perfectly efficient and favour index tracking, it would be foolhardy to completely ignore real world influences when managing money. But the credit markets, in particular, warrant analysis…
U.S. LBO issuance shows more bark than bite in 1Q18 There was a lot of noise around LBO activity last quarter, but in the end 1Q18 U.S. LBO loan issuance totals finished at a modest US$19bn, 17% behind 4Q17’s level of US$22.9bn and 24% behind 1Q17’s US$25.2bn. The good news is that a lot of…
Buy, build, repeat Download PitchBook’s report click here. The buy-and-build strategy has largely displaced private equity’s early playbook, which relied on financial engineering and ambitious leveraging to generate profits. To be sure, add-ons have been in PE’s playbook even before the crisis, though to a much smaller degree…. Login to Read More...
Direct Lending Fundraising Drops in Q1 2018 The private debt industry saw record year in 2017 in which 156 funds raised an aggregate $115bn. Q1 2018 however, has seen a slowdown in fundraising levels – just nineteen private debt funds reached a final close, raising a combined $14bn. Direct lending in particular saw a decrease…
Does size matter? Ask managers, and they’ll say yes. The rush toward credit continues; as the asset class keeps growing, the average fund size has grown with it. In the first quarter of the year, the average private debt fund size stood at $1.25 billion, larger than last year’s four-quarter average of $1.02 billion and…
Risky assets are often beholden to perceptions of geopolitical risk, though in recent times it has been a minor factor. Perhaps that is about to change. The conflict in Syria has taken a terrible twist that threatens to draw the major western powers into a conflict with Russia, with concomitant negative effects on credit markets….
A closer look at private debt performance Download PitchBook’s report click here. As traditional PE strategies have become more crowded, the PE industry has seen a record-high expansion in private debt fundraising. Names like Thoma Bravo, BC Partners and Silver Lake have all branched out into the private debt space, following in the footsteps of…
Private Debt: Slowdown in Q1 2018 The private debt industry had a banner year in 2017 in which 156 funds held a final close securing a record $115bn. This marked a significant increase from the previous record in 2015 when 178 funds raised a little over $100bn in capital. 2017 was also the only year…
Middle market loan issuance falls off in 1Q18 to US$32.2bn After heating up in 4Q17 to US$44.1bn, middle market lending flopped in 1Q18. Syndicated middle market issuance of US$32.2bn fell 27% and 16% from 4Q17 and 1Q17 levels, respectively. A light flow of new money activity was felt in both the sponsored and non-sponsored market…
No one ever got fired for buying IBM Investors appear to be adopting a ‘safety first’ approach as a decreasing number of managers benefit from continuing appetite for private debt. Excuse the rudimentary math, but if you take the total number of managers which closed private debt funds in the first quarter (28) and multiply…