“Anytime loan market technicals shift, there’s always a view that CLOs are the end of Western civilization as we know it.” That’s what a top CLO​ manager told us about his experience over several decades. Regardless of actual performance, CLO’s regularly get hauled out by the media for reckless behavior associated with“risky loans.” Back in […]

Private Credit​: views from investors/LP, the opportunities, new entrants, and lessons learned from the pandemic. Churchill’s Co-Head of Senior Lending Randy Schwimmer, Cliffwater’s Head of Capital Markets Fran Beyers, Comvest Partners’ Partner Dan Lee, and Refinitiv’s Head of Market Analysis Ioana Barza share their insights. ▶︎ Watch the full version interview from Opus Connect Webinar: […]

Fran Beyers, Cliffwater’s Head of Capital Markets, Dan Lee, Partner of Comvest, and Randy Schwimmer, Churchill’s Co-Head of Senior Lending discussed what are their biggest fears and surprises in the height of the pandemic and the economic outlook for 2021. ▶︎ Watch the full version interview from Opus Connect Webinar: here

We wrap our special 2021 outlook with private credit. Its value proposition was fully supported last year, coming through the pandemic mostly unscathed. But with conditions becoming more issuer-friendly, how will private credit terms be impacted? When liquid loan yields contract, illiquid loan yields tend to follow. But they carry at least a 100 bp […]

We continue our special series on The Great Reception, a year that’s welcoming all investors. This week we look at the capital markets: funds flow, asset behavior and deal quality. With each passing day, the light at the end of the COVID tunnel grows brighter. That newfound optimism has put upward pressure on interest rates. […]

What have you missed most over the past few months? Well, if you said “Grape-Nuts” we feel your pain. Our beloved cereal has gone missing from supermarket shelves across the US. First produced in 1897 Grape-Nuts accompanied Sir Admiral Byrd to Antarctica and Sir Edmund Hillary to Mount Everest. But don’t worry. They’ll be back. […]

We conclude our special series, “Five Biggest Private Capital​ Surprises of 2020,” with: Surprise #5: The M&A Big Bang Last July published a white paper on COVID-19 and M&A Activity. It was called “COVID-19 and M&A Activity”. Besides logistical challenges, there were worries about second and third infection waves. “We’re expecting a light second half,” […]

We continue our special series with the fourth of our “Five Biggest Private Capital​ Surprises of 2020:” Surprise #4: Which Industries Mattered? For experienced credit managers, diversity is a key investing principle. The question coming into last March’s downturn was, have we made the right decisions on industries to lean into and out of? Generalists […]

We continue our special series with the third of our “Five Biggest Private Capital​ Surprises of 2020:” Surprise #3: Where Are the Distressed Loans? Last April the CEO of a large asset manager said the volume of potential distressed credit investments could be $1 trillion. COVID, he said, presented “a massive opportunity to deploy capital […]

We continue our special series with the second of our “Five Biggest Private Capital Surprises of 2020:” Surprise #2: Non-Correlated Trends – Infections, Markets, and the Economy At their lowest moments in the Global Financial Crisis and the Global Biological Crisis, financial markets swooned in synch as investors found no safe havens. Bad news sunk […]