Latest leveraged loan news

• New EQT direct lending fund four times bigger

  

  Private equity firm EQT closed its largest direct lending fund on Monday, as market participants forecast a busy year for the market in 2019.

  • 10 Dec 2018

• Brexit anxiety kills refi loan from Vue

  

  Cinema operator Vue International cancelled its £833m-equivalent leveraged loan offering amid increasing investor aversion to sterling risk, as the UK government and Parliament descended into a full-blown clash over the conditions for separation from the European Union.

  • 06 Dec 2018

• Corp defaults to rise, says Moody’s

  

  Defaults among borrowers with speculative grade ratings are set to dive at the start of next year, but only for a while, Moody’s said in an outlook report for non-financial corporates this week.

  • 05 Dec 2018

• Fund outflows bring levfin to standstill

  

  Investors in European leveraged debt seem to be giving up for the year. Funds and financial vehicles that buy high yield bonds and leveraged loans have seen large volumes of cash outflows, leaving borrowers with no other option but to step back this week.

  • 05 Dec 2018

• Private equity jeopardising levfin creditor protections

  

  Senior credit analysts at Moody’s are warning that the private equity-led proliferation of weak creditor protections in the leveraged loan market may mean a more protracted and challenging default cycle in coming years.

  • 04 Dec 2018

• Element seeks add-on with flexible covs

  

  Element Materials Technology, the UK materials testing company owned by Bridgepoint, was looking for a small loan extension this week, and seeking consent from its investors for higher leverage ratios under the loan covenants.

  • 03 Dec 2018

• Central banks raise levfin risks with industry

  

  Several European central banks have contacted the Loan Market Association (LMA), raising concerns about the risks of the leveraged finance market. But following a round of private meetings in London, the authorities are not expected to bring forward new regulations.

  • 29 Nov 2018

• It’s defaults, not the covs

  

  Leveraged debt fund managers seem resigned to a low-rated deal pipeline and aggressive documentation this week, with the market likely to accept these conditions, despite a sell-off which saw the iTraxx Crossover at its widest so far this year, 340bp, on Wednesday.

  • 28 Nov 2018

• Stada seeks €1.5bn of debt to finish LBO

  

  Private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven are financing their purchase of a further 28.3% stake in Stada Arzneimittel, the German pharmaceutical group, in the euro leveraged finance markets this week, and are having to contend with investors who are in a risk-averse mood.

  • 27 Nov 2018

• ADB Safegate bolts on for acquisition

  

  Belgium’s ADB Safegate has raised €59m in the leveraged loan market through a bolt-on transaction, with the airport services provider set for its acquisition of the UK’s Ultra Electronics Airport Systems.

  • 22 Nov 2018

Leveraged loan news archive