Uncertainty challenges credit underwriting but deal making continues
Panelists at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference this week said the environment is more favorable than many initially expected post 2 April

Private credit’s golden era never really ended – Blackstone’s Michael Zawadzki
On the Credit Exchange podcast, Lisa Lee speaks with the CIO of Blackstone Credit and Insurance about opportunities in volatile markets and the durability of private credit premiums

A&O Shearman exits continue with two partners jumping to Proskauer
Leveraged finance partners Alexandra de Padua and Frank Oliver join Proskauer’s global finance practice in New York

Leveraged loan, HY defaults to pick up as tariff pause adds more uncertainty - Goldman
The bank expects macro challenges to continue despite the tariff pause  

US CLO and leveraged loan market roiled by dramatic Trump tariffs
ANALYSIS: Leveraged loans and CLO fell lower in the aftermath's of President Donald Trump's new tariffs 

Tariff headlines drive some HY auto parts names lower as Babilou loan plunges – Market Comment
Markets are down following newsflow that US President Donald Trump announced a 10% tariff on all imports into the US, with even higher rates for countries he called the “worst offenders"

Peraton taps Guggenheim, lenders organize with Davis Polk on DOGE worries
DEBTWIRE EXCLUSIVE: Lenders of Peraton, which has USD 6.145bn loan maturity in 2028, are preparing to take FA ptiches as company is reliant on federal contracts, and faces downgrade risk  

KKR, Capital Group set to launch a hybrid private-public credit fund for individuals
The new fund with a low minimum will invest across corporate direct lending, private asset-based lending and public fixed income

Rovensa pulls EUR 1.11bn TLB amend-and-extend following 13 March commitment deadline
Portugal-based crop protection company has halted its leveraegd loan deal as market conditions worsen

Refresco halts repricing and add-on transaction as market sentiment sours
Pulls deal from syndication as recent market volatility has made the repricing difficult to execute

Investing in Europe has changed dramatically in past weeks – Apollo’s Tristram Leach
PODCAST: We're on the cusp of profound change in Europe, observes Apollo's co-head of European credit, in the latest edition of the 'Credit Exchange' podcast  

US leveraged loan default rate set to rise to 1.6% by end of 2025: S&P
Macroeconomic headwinds, policy uncertainty and the reduced likelihood of interest rate cuts could contribute to the uptick  

Welcome to Miami, good luck getting on the deal
JPM leveraged finance conference attracts over 3000 to South Beach where participants expect LME activity to remain high and saw increased private credit presence
 

Go upmarket when investing in credit, says Oak Hill's Schrager
Senior managing partner at Oak Hill Advisors, Alan Schrager, discusses private credit volumes, cross-currents in credit markets, and issues including tariffs and defaults in Credit Exchange with Lisa Lee podcast

US leveraged loan A&E reach all-time high—Baird
Amend & Extend volume for US leveraged loans hit a record USD 226bn, driven by a lack of M&A activity in 2024 and a still-high cost for refinancing.

Leveraged Finance Fights Melanoma (LFFM) to hold inaugural charity event in London on 29 January
Leveraged Finance Fights Melanoma  will host an inaugural charity event in London on 29 January at the National Gallery to support the UK-based research on melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer

ICG hires Sixth Street alum Grandjean for pan-European private credit
ICG has hired Pierre Grandjean, who most recently was at Sixth Street in specialty lending, to join its European direct lending team, Senior Debt Partners

Institutional loans set records while ratings agency data diverges
It isn’t just the CLO market breaking records this year. Loan volumes are also continuing to set records, according to the latest Debtwire data for November.

Fund performance
Entering the final three months of the year, CLO funds took a clean sweep of the top 10 spots in the Creditflux tables. October was strong overall, as over 85% of funds listed made positive returns

Altice France reminds creditors that unrestricted subsidiaries can be freely spun-off
Altice France's debt documents permit the XpFibre spin-off, and most credit agreements and high yield bond indentures permit the distribution of the equity in unrestricted subsidiaries

Trump victory raises hopes for high yield markets, M&A revival
Leverage finance markets cheered Donald Trump’s win on the prospect the former president’s return to the White House will unleash deregulation and M&A, lower taxes and higher economy growth

Octaura launches new protocol for CLO liquidations
Electronic loan trading platform Octaura has released a new set of processes to streamline loan BWICs and OWICs

JetBlue's new loan struggles to take flight
CLO managers had less appetite for JetBlue’s new loan after the airline was downgraded to B3 and B- 

Apollo picks up two hires from Bank of America
Investment bankers Tomasz Gruszka and Murad Khaled have joined Apollo and an affiliate from Bank of America

BNP Paribas announces negotiations to buy AXA IM
BNP Paribas said it entered exclusive talks to buy AXA's asset management unit and set-up a partership for EUR 5.1bn