Buyout Highlights - Overview of Europe Buyout and Financing Trends 1Q25
Leveraged loans are again the main source of financing for LBOs in Europe, providing 65% of the total volume issued in 1Q25  

Tariffs will push up default rates for several years, say agencies and managers
After an uptick in leveraged loan defaults culled weaker credits in 2024, many expected default rates to fall in 2025. But the uncertainty stemming from the Trump administration’s tariffs means those assumptions are now under threat

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

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

European CLOs are sticking with Altice, research finds
Altice’s debt has been one of the biggest headaches for the CLO market in Europe this year but most managers have refrained from selling the debt according to a recent research report

Strong run helps CLOs shrug off Altice downgrade
It may be the largest triple C downgrade in years, but the CLO market is relatively unperturbed by Altice’s fall from grace.

Global Loan Highlights 1Q24: Don’t call it a comeback
Loan refinancing share hits historic high, but IG issuance stymies YoY global growth

Global corporate defaults on fastest pace since 2009 according to S&P
The number of corporate defaults has risen dramatically year-to-date, according to S&P Global Ratings, driven by a doubling of the rate of defaults in Europe

European companies reprice EUR 16bn of loans in 2024 as window opens
When the European loan market started to talk about rates peaking late in 2023, repricing rehearsed a comeback, but did so effectively in January this year

Wave of legal hires becomes a tsunami
In February alone legal heavyweights Allen & Overy, DLA Piper, Fried Frank, Kirkland & Ellis, Proskauer Rose and White & Case all announced the arrival of partners in the credit space

Credit PMs remain gloomy in latest IACPM survey
Survey participants in the latest IACPM Credit Outlook Survey believe the euphoria seen in global financial markets during the last few months of 2023 was overdone

Palmer Square liquidates 2022 CLO through BWIC
Palmer Square is the seller of a mammoth EUR 350m loan and bond BWIC portfolio that was auctioned last Thursday (4 January) as it has been winding down Palmer Square European Loan Funding 2022-3

Full-year 2023 European Leveraged Highlights
Debtwire has released the full-year 2023 European Leveraged Highlights, containing key trends in the leveraged loan and high-yield bond markets

November 2023 European Leveraged Highlights
Debtwire today releases the November 2023 European Leveraged Highlights, containing key trends in the leveraged loan and high-yield bond markets

M&G launches first European private credit fund
M&G Investments is the latest firm looking to individual investors as an avenue for fundraising with the launch of a new ELTIF, dubbed the M&G Corporate Credit Opportunities Fund

Loan Highlights 3Q23: Loan volumes remain significantly lower than historical averages
Capital markets loan activity continued to struggle in the third quarter of 2023, as issuers in the Americas and Europe held off from tapping markets

Fed members need to restore their credibility, which could translate into excessive tightening
Rising wages have boosted spending and GDP — but the party can’t last forever

Loan Highlights 2Q23: Running aground
The global loan market endured a bleak first half of the year, with the overall 1H23 volume falling 28% year-on-year (YoY) to $1.9 trillion, the lowest showing since 2012.

Fitch raises European default rate assumptions with loans in tougher spot than bonds
Analysts at Fitch Ratings have raised their base-case leveraged loan default rate for end-2023 in Europe to 4.5% from 3.5%, and their severe-case rate to 6%

UniCredit wraps up three synthetic securitisations with EIB backing
UniCredit says it has produced three synthetic securitisations which will free ithe bank up to lend over €5 billion to small and mid-sized enterprises in Italy, Germany and Bulgaria.

Euro CLOs demonstrate "considerable resiliency" to upcoming CLO maturity wall, says S&P
Managers and investors should keep an eye on upcoming CLO maturity wall with “potential adverse effects” amid tighter financing conditions and the impact that could have on CLO performance and ratings

We can cope with downgrades again

Alcentra co-CIO for liquid credit set to leave this month
A high profile figure in the US CLO business is leaving Alcentra

WTW to tackle lack of diversity across investment industry
Progress on diversity across the investment industry is “disappointingly slow”, according to research from Willis Towers Watson

Fund performance: CLO tranches move up
April returns managed a partial bounce back after a tumultuous March. 82% of funds listed in the Creditflux database made positive returns, showing at least small signs of recovery after 90% of all funds listed posted negative returns in March