Positive thoughts amid volatility Recession may be looming but, in the private debt market, confidence remains high. The worst is yet to come. That’s the not entirely reassuring message from an LCD survey, which found that, when polled last month, 56 percent of respondents said peak market volatility still lies ahead. This represented a sharp…
Fear recedes over fund facilities Initial wariness over subscription finance has given way to acceptance – at least when it comes to brand-name GPs. “Leverage is a sensitive topic for LPs,” says Carolina Espinal, managing director at HarbourVest Partners. But while skepticism was rife in the early days of the subscription finance market, when limited…
A fast-changing asset class Continuing our reflections on how different dynamics are being seen across private markets. In last week’s edition of Lead Left, we took at look a some of the key themes emerging from our Private Funds Leaders’ Survey 2022, which we published in conjunction with MUFG Investor Services. This week, in our…
On the minds of limited partners Our upcoming Fund Leaders’ Survey provides a glimpse into what investors are thinking about the key issues of the day. So what are limited partners really thinking? Multiple answers to that question may be found in the upcoming July/August issue of Private Debt Investor, where we devote a section…
Tough talk on DE&I LPs are now asking questions of their managers, who, in turn, are waking up to the impact of diversity on performance. Private debt is still at the beginning of its DE&I journey. According to Diversity Review in Corporate Credit, a 2020 paper by specialist credit recruitment company Waterman Stern, just 14…
Business services: reliability amid volatility ‘Safe and steady’ is a tag that might be readily applied to the sector, and that’s just fine as far as investors are concerned. Alongside technology and healthcare, business services has emerged as a go-to sector for credit funders attracted by its reliable cashflows and sticky customer relationships. But unlike…
Claiming a bigger slice for alternatives A new study suggests its time for portfolio allocators to make some changes in the face of economic headwinds. A recent piece of analysis from KKR suggests that the classic 60/40 stocks/bonds portfolio construction model may have had its day in the face of a challenging new environment. The…
European deals buffeted by adverse backdrop Unitranche transactions in the region fell back in Q1 2022 as economic headwinds reverse the growth seen through 2021. In its latest MidCapMonitor, Houlihan Lokey recorded 103 unitranche deals in Europe during the first quarter of the year, down from 143 seen in the final quarter of 2021. Despite…
A subdued start to the year for capital raising The boom in senior debt fundraising subsided somewhat in the first quarter of the year, while North America remained the dominant region. Fundraising in Q1 2022 continued the very gradual downward trend of the past six years, according to Private Debt Investor data. However, given that…
Larger funds mean larger deals A new average fund size record was set in Q1 2022, as private debt managers become more ambitious at the larger end of the market. We’re in the era of the private debt mega-fund. Last year, according to Private Debt Investor data (see chart), the average fund size breached $1…