High yield hits Europe record, levloan demand still ailing

Record returns of 22% made European high yield one of the outstanding investments of 2012. Issuance also reached a high, as the dollar market strongly supported European borrowers. Leveraged loan sales, on the other hand, shrank by 40% as new LBOs dried up. As Stefanie Linhardt reports, investors cannot expect such delights in 2013, but issuers can afford to be optimistic — money is steadily flowing into the asset class.