2020 US Syndicated loan volume at 10 year low amid pandemic In a year overshadowed by a global pandemic, social unrest and a prolonged US election cycle, lenders pushed over US$1.5trn of loan volume through the syndicated market, a 27% drop over the same time last year and a 10-year low. Although Covid-19 was the…
Middle market rebound in Q3 PE activity saw a healthy rebound in Q3, which was expected, according to PitchBook’s just-released Q3 Middle Market Report. An estimated $115.6 billion was invested last quarter, a 66% jump over Q2’s disastrous $69.6 billion tally. Volume also reversed course, with 711 transactions in Q3 and a 50% increase over…
Libor floors remain in institutional market, but are lower in 4Q20 As the Libor rate remains at low levels, investors continue to demand Libor floors in the institutional market. The average 3-month Libor rate is at an average of 0.22% so far in 4Q20, this is down from 0.25% in 3Q20 and is roughly 130bp…
Will Venture Debt go up in 2021? Venture debt is a type of debt financing provided to venture capital-backed companies by a specialized financier to fund working capital or capital expenses. Fundraising of this strategy has had a pattern of highs and lows in capital raised over the last 10 years…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready
A New Year’s wish: More of the same After a tumultuous year, private debt managers are hoping the strategies that have served them well so far will retain LP support. “Sticking to the knitting” is a phrase beloved of private markets fund managers. What it’s meant to convey is that, when chaos is all around…
2021 prediction: 20% of buyouts over 20x A bold prediction coming from our upcoming PE Outlook note: 20% of buyouts will be priced above 20x EBITDA. Our numbers suggest around 18% of them are trading above the 20x mark through late November, though there are caveats galore when looking at 2020 activity. Many of the…
Over half of US CLOs report less than 1% of portfolio assets in default Before COVID-19, 78% of post-crisis US CLOs reported less than 1% of their portfolio in default, 15% reported between 1% and <2% of their principal balance in default, while 7% reported more than 2% in default. By August, only 44% of…
U.S Direct Lending: Purpose November 2020 Direct lending in November for buyouts surged to 47%, leveling the lopsided pull of add-on acquisitions that had dominated the pipeline since the pandemic hit, according to DLD. In fact, November generated the best share for LBO financing since February’s 61%. Add-on activity slipped slightly to 48% last month,…
The Rise of ESG in Private Debt Although private equity funds continue to dominate the ESG opportunity set, private debt has found its way to embrace ESG. Since 2011, 450 funds have come to market and $346bn has been raised – but 2020 has been a big year for the asset class…. Subscribe to Read
There may be trouble ahead Investors have taken comfort from private debt’s response to the crisis, but economic turmoil still lies in wait. There are certainly some very different views in the market as to how quickly the next wave of distressed opportunity is likely to materialise. As we have reported previously in Lead Left,…