One Biffa does not make a recovery

Good news has been a rare commodity for the European leveraged finance market in the last year, but the £1.14bn loan supporting the buyout of Biffa, the UK waste management group, is set to close oversubscribed this week. This successful syndication has been welcomed as a sign that the market is finally returning to normal. But the optimists should be wary: investor demand is still fragile and weaker deals are likely to have a rough ride.