NEW YORK, January 4, 2016 – I’ve discussed at length the development of revolving credit facilities. Corporate borrowers and private equity sponsors have continued to utilise this tool to maximise flexibility for acquisitions, dividend recaps and working capital. But during 2015 we’ve noted the increasing popularity of another weapon in an issuer’s financing arsenal: namely, the delayed-draw term loan (DDTL).
CLEVELAND, December 11, 2015 – “The middle market will remain liquid, given the capital flowing into the space, regardless of interest rate hikes. 2016 appears bullish for both lenders and borrowers,” said Randy Schwimmer, a senior managing director at New York-based Churchill Asset Management, in the report.
NEW YORK, December 3, 2015 – One of the enduring fictions about middle market loans relates to their tradability. Smaller loans, the theory goes, are priced at a premium because there are fewer ready buyers. Unlike their broadly syndicated cousins, loans below $250 million have no effective secondary market. That’s the idea, anyway.
NEW YORK, November 5, 2015 – These days it’s popular sport at loan conferences to kick the mezzanine asset class. After the credit crisis, when some investors in subordinated debt took a licking, the common question heard among market players was: “Is mezz dead?” Today the refrain is: “Is mezz still dead?” And yet, in conversations with practitioners, it seems mezz is alive and well.
NEW YORK, October 8, 2015 – When your correspondent began distributing middle market loans (in the waning days of the Reagan administration), the concept was considered novel. Back then money-centre banks underwrote and syndicated mainly large corporate loans to other relationship banks. Smaller deals were mostly self-arranged, club affairs among regional banks and finance companies.
NEW YORK, September, 2015 – The US private debt market, always the most mature, is proving particularly creative too. PDI sits down with seven debt managers to discuss the market.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, September 1, 2015 – Institutional investors should consider US private debt as an alternative investment strategy to obtain higher returns, says Churchill Asset Management.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, August 31, 2015 – Churchill Asset Management, the reincarnated debt fund backed by US insurance giant TIAA-CREF, is looking to deploy more debt capital to America’s small to medium-sized businesses with enterprise values ranging from between $US50 million ($70 million) and $US500 million.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, August 30, 2015 – Lending to medium-to-large corporates has taken on a different hue in recent years. Pension funds, generally through their fund managers, are now the most important group of lenders ahead of the major banks, especially in the US. The restructuring of GE Capital and its parent in April this year confirmed the permanence of the trend.