Taking your PIK The influence of the payment-in-kind option in private debt transactions is on the rise. There was a time when a company seeking a payment-in-kind (PIK) option was a surefire sign of trouble. Think of the credit bubble that led to the global financial crisis…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in

Infrastructure seeks to weather the storm When the economy turns, infrastructure investment has often been seen as a safe harbour from tailwinds affecting other parts of the market. Infrastructure projects are typically long-term investments with government support, usually fulfilling essential needs which consumers cannot easily cut out of their budgets…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a

Investors flock to the middle As previously highlighted by Lead Left, and supported by our fundraising data, junior capital strategies are becoming increasingly popular. In last week’s version of the “Case for Junior Capital”, Lead Left drew attention to some of the positive characteristics of this type of investment in today’s environment including healthy cash/equity…

Fundraising: Down but not out Capital raising has proved a tough task so far this year, but investor support may be about to return. On the face of it, the fundraising market for private debt looks rather gloomy. In common with similar findings across the alternative asset universe, the private debt market saw a marked…

Are the storm clouds receding? Private debt may be in the process of demonstrating its resilience in the face of the latest challenges. One thing that studies consistently show – including our own Perspectives survey, see chart above – is that investors are still scrambling to access private debt. Tough times we may be living…

Firms look for new ways into technology The sector is continuing to grow in popularity, evidenced by recent strategic moves from the likes of SoftBank and BlackRock. The technology sector has proved to be one of the most popular and resilient for private credit lenders ever since the covid-19 pandemic, and the trend shows little…

Filling the void in venture lending Lending to growth and venture-backed firms has been challenging in early 2023, but there are signs of change. The regional banking crisis precipitated by the turmoil that started with Silicon Valley Bank in March must be seen in a larger context – as an accelerant of a mega-trend towards…

Changes from a decade of fundraising In the June issue of Private Debt Investor, in which we celebrated its tenth anniversary, we reflected on key trends in fundraising over that period by an examination of our PDI 100 ranking of top fundraisers. Below are four of our observations. Size matters: The giant managers who are…

In private debt, size matters Our recent review of the asset class’s progress over the last ten years noted how the average size of funds keeps on growing. One of the findings of our recent Decade issue was the rapid advance in the sizes of private debt funds. Increasing concentration of fundraising among the top…

Fundraising’s tale of two halves Looking back over the last decade reveals a phase of uninterrupted capital growth, followed by a less predictable period. Since Private Debt Investor launched a decade ago, we have closely tracked fundraising for the asset class across its evolving array of strategies. We have witnessed the meteoric rise of an…