NEW YORK, May 7, 2015 – Leveraged lending guidelines have set six times total leverage as the limit above which a loan would likely be criticised by examiners. Less noted by the media, but of growing interest to market players, are the components of leverage metrics: specifically, how the numerator (debt) and the denominator (earnings) are being massaged to put the best face on increasingly leveraged transactions.
NEW YORK, April 2, 2015 – We’re seeing a rush to pound out new publicly-traded (and private) business development companies, with many launched and more lined up in registration. Managers have correctly identified the virtues of BDCs: one-to-one fund leverage, tax advantages for investors, access to permanent capital, double-digit return potential, the fact that banks can own them under Dodd-Frank… Need we go on?
NEW YORK, March 5, 2015 – One tenet of sound lending practices is establishing the borrower’s capacity to repay its debt over the contractual life of the obligation. So it’s not surprising that regulators have taken banks to task in recent reports highlighting a growing number of leveraged loan issuers which lack that capacity.
NEW YORK, February 5, 2015 – For some time, US regulators have been discouraging banks from making “risky loans”. Now we’re learning of their concerns about banks taking “risky deposits” as well. There’s no mention yet of any plans to clamp down on giving away free toasters.
NEW YORK, December 22, 2014 – How much direct lending capacity is in the middle market? Welcome to one of the most frequently asked (and most challenging) questions in the world of leveraged lending.
NEW YORK, December 4, 2014 – Cutting through Central Park on our way to a meeting recently, we encountered a worker fiddling with what looked like a centrifuge for uranium enrichment. Somewhat alarmed, we slowed our pace.