Commercial lending

Retailers and energy firms filed for bankruptcy protection in record numbers in the first half of 2020. Meanwhile, the volume of leveraged loans mandated but yet to launch is down 55% from the end of May.

Banks participating in the Main Street Lending Program were able to register for and offer credit to businesses last month, but the Federal Reserve said Monday it was set to make the effort fully operational.

The Senate had passed the bill Tuesday, shortly before the Small Business Administration was to stop accepting new loan applications.

Stakeholders in a $1.5B term loan (which include CLO managers) overwhelmingly approved the failed energy company's voluntary bankruptcy plan, providing them a 76% pro-rata share of new common stock in the company after it emerges from bankruptcy.

Money managers including Owl Rock Partners, Pretium and PGIM are racing to add workers with restructuring and bankruptcy experience as they take in record amounts of cash to buy cheap assets battered by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

Restricted from taking on distressed debt or debtor-in-possession loans, CLO managers are being left out of opportunities in coronavirus-related debt restructurings. "It's frustrating," says one manager. "We are supposed to be the bully, not the one being pushed around.”

The agencies said late Friday that they will provide information on small businesses that received $150,000 or more from the Paycheck Protection Program.

Activity in the Paycheck Protection Program has waned, but some argue that many small businesses, especially those owned by minorities, will miss out if the June 30 application deadline isn't extended.

Other challenger banks focused on personal loans have struggled since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Leveraged loans and collateralized loan obligations do not represent an "existential" threat to the global economy or to the U.S. banking system, as some recent highly charged reports have suggested.

The leveraged loan market, long favored by private equity firms to fund LBOs, has lagged. The largest buyers of the debt - vehicles known as collateralized loan obligations - are not purchasing as much as they used to as they deal with the wave of downgrades that has hit many of the companies they already hold.

A budget item establishing a new agency to protect consumers from predatory lenders has been put on hold as state officials deal with the coronavirus response and other priorities. But it could be revived in legislative talks later this summer.

The online small-business lender’s temporary halt to loan originations contributed to a breach of a minimum asset level for its Series 2019-1 collateral pool, according to Kroll.

As revenue-starved retailers fall further behind on rent payments, landlords' cash flow will be strained, and defaults on commercial real estate loans could rise.

The central bank is only now nearing the launch of the credit facilities after the effort was announced in April. But Chairman Jerome Powell said loans have been available through other means.

The venture with Goldman Sachs represents the first time Amazon has let a third party control the underwriting process of one of its financing offerings.

The central bank will increase support for credit issued through the Main Street Lending Program while providing midsize firms with more flexibility on the amounts they receive.

The captive-finance lender for General Motors is providing lower expectations for the vehicles' future residual values, compared to its prior lease ABS deals, in recognition of the likely severe recessionary impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

The firm will offload parts of its business including its business development company, Garrison Capital Inc., and other credit vehicles.

“Since April, the decline in corporate credit has resulted in a significant number of downgrades among the assets underlying some CLOs,” a Moody’s press release stated on Wednesday.