For those of us who have made the middle market our livelihood for a while, last week’s Wells Fargo 2016 Middle Market Opportunities Forum was an extraordinary event. To see the likes of Steve Schwartzman, Lloyd Blankfein, Leon Black, and (in a lunch keynote) Michael Milken, at a conference dedicated to the virtues of private…
Among the unlikelier events of this post-election season – other than the consideration of former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, Linda McMahon, to be head of the Small Business Administration – has been the confidence with which institutional investors have rotated into leveraged credit. This despite the uncertainty surrounding the future of all sorts of policy…
At this writing it’s only been three weeks since the November 8 “tectonic shift” – as veteran financier Henry Kaufman dubbed the US election results. And while this Brexit-like outcome has injected a high degree of uncertainty into capital markets globally, there are potential positives emerging. In particular, we are encouraged by possible tailwinds for…
At a loan conference some years ago we referred to middle market loans as the Rodney Dangerfield of capital markets. These small, illiquid instruments were the poor step-child to high-yield bonds and large leveraged loans. But at Creditflux’s inaugural New York conference on private credit this past June, it was clear the situation has changed….
Liquidity and Credit Appetite/ Middle Market Pricing and Leverage/ BDCs and Middle Market CLOs/ 2016 Predictions and Trends
News reached us last week that a computer discovered the largest prime number known to exist. A “non-descript desktop” PC in Room 143 at the University of Central Missouri worked for 31 days before locating the 22 million digit numeral. The super calculator, known on campus as “No. 5,” was unavailable for comment. Big numbers…
One of the largest dinosaurs ever found debuted last week at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. At 120 feet, Titanosaur is so long that its head sticks out of the exhibit hall. The paleontologist who uncovered the bones knew he was on to something unusual. “Everything was extremely large,” Dr. Diego…
“People are still standing.” So a friend of ours characterized the broadly syndicated loan market at the close of a bumpy 2015. From his perch at a big bank trading desk, he put a good face on investor appetite. “There are still bids,” he told us. Another large cap sales pro agreed. “Investors are putting…
Just before the holidays we caught up with a friend who runs a middle market credit fund. So how was the year for you, we wanted to know? “Beyond crazy,” he said. “Time just flew by so fast. It seemed like every fifteen minutes, I was having breakfast.” That perfectly captures the velocity in the…