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.

GP-led deals to reach 50% of credit secondaries volume in 2025: Jefferies
Private credit secondaries volume will be increasingly driven by GP-led transactions this year, said Jefferies in a report

Middle market private credit default climb significantly to 4.7% – Proskauer
The US direct lending market saw a big increase in middle market defaults in the fourth quarter of 2024

Connecticut pensions earmark USD 1.85bn for private credit in 2025
The Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, a combination of six state pension funds and 12 state trust funds, plans to increase private credit allocation this year

Ramirez Asset Management acquires private credit team from Avenue Capital Group
Ramirez Asset Managemen has acquired a private credit opportunities strategy team from Avenue Capital Group

Steven Cohen’s Point 72 taps Blackstone veteran to build private credit strategy
Point72 has hired Blackstone's Todd Hirsch as head of private capital to build a new investment strategy focused on private credit

UBS forecasts strong private credit returns in 2025, but also downside risks
UBS Global Research has tipped double-digit returns for US investors in its 2025 private credit outlook, but emphasised the risks are skewed to the downside

Barings hires Churchill MD for private debt originations
Barings Global Private Finance has hired a managing director from Churchill Asset Management to serve as a managing director for North America Private Credit

HPS deal is expensive but catapults BlackRock into private credit top five
BlackRock is poised to become one of the largest private credit managers in the world after agreeing to buy private credit manager HPS Investment Partners at a rich 30x multiple

Janus Henderson highlights agency mortgages in new fixed-income ETF
John Kerschner views agency mortgages as the cheapest thing in fixed-income and has a high allocation for the new JIII ETF   

US corporate bond spreads hit all time tights
US corporate bond spreads hit all-time tights last week with both the investment-grade and high yield composite bond spreads in the US breaking records

Public Pensions, Private Pursuits: 18th November
CalPERS reveals USD 2.9bn private credit commitments as Sacramento, East Bay, San Francisco refine debt strategy

Brookfield Credit invests USD 1bn in 17Capital
Brookfield Asset Management’s private credit investment division, Brookfield Credit, has agreed to invest USD 1bn into 17Capital’s private credit strategies

Crayhill nears USD 1bn target for an asset-based credit fund
Crayhill Capital Management has raised more than USD 830m, approaching its USD 1bn target, for a asset-based credit fund called Principal Strategies Fund III, according to a SEC filing 

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

LPs monitor private credit managers as PIK use rises
As the use of payment-in-kind in direct lending increases, LPs are worried that the tool is being co-opted by the wrong strategies and offered to low-quality borrowers

Barings adds two private credit MDs for North America
Barings Global Private Finance has hired two managing directors, Brian Polomsky and Doug Koch, for its North America Private Credit team from Principal Asset Management

Aquarian prints first new CLO in Gallatin series in more than year
A USD 399.80m US BSL CLO is the first new issue from Aquarian since the print of Gallatin X in August of last year

PIK use rises to 12% of sponsored direct lending deals - KBRA
Sponsor-backed companies using payment-in-kind for senior debt now account for 12% of the KBRA DLD Direct Lending Index, an increase of 1% from the last quarter

Direct lending defaults decline for all except middle market according to Proskauer
Default rates for US direct loans declined to 1.95% in the third quarter of 2024 from 2.71% in the second quarter, according to a new report from law firm Proskauer

TPG Angelo Gordon raises nearly USD 2bn for private credit strategy
TPG Angelo Gordon has raised USD 1.82bn so far for its private credit fund called TPG AG Credit Solutions Fund III which is targeting USD 4.5bn in commitments
   

LME threat pushes creditors to join or die ad hoc groups, co-ops
Creditors looking to survive LMEs relatively unscathed increasingly have two options: join the majority ad-hoc group or hope debtholders organize under an inclusive cooperation agreement

Apollo raises USD 4.8bn for large cap direct lending
Apollo Global Management has closed its Apollo Origination Partnership Fund II, raising approximately USD 4.8bn of investable capital

Special situations funds shift from distressed debt to flexible, all-weather capital strategies
As struggling companies turn to liability management techniques to gain the upper hand against lenders, a new bankruptcy-lite environment is forcing funds to play across the capital stack 

Europe still leads US in SRT as banks diversify types of risk transferred
Despite copious headlines about the arrival of US banks to the significant risk transfer (SRT) market, Europe continues to lead the charge