Investments

Business development companies (BDCs) were trending ever healthier prior to the pandemic, but if the economy remains in the deep doldrums it may ultimately be their affiliated asset-management companies that investors should look to for assurance.

A New York judge last week dismissed a claim that a leveraged loan JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other Wall Street banks sold in 2014 could be considered a security and, as such, be subject to the same disclosure requirements as stock and bond offerings.

Investors are looking past signs of weakness and toward an eventual recovery, but top executives at BlackRock, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and other financial firms remain cautious as many cities and states remain in partial lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

In a report issued Tuesday, the ratings agency notes that 1,287 companies as of April 28 faced prospects of potential debt and issuer downgrades, impacted by the coronavirus outbreak and a virtual shutdown of the global economy this spring.

4L Holdings Corp. is seeking a cash infusion that would help it outlast the economic pain the coronavirus outbreak has had on its business. That’s sparking the ire of CLO managers who could see their stakes in the firm wiped away.

Unlike public equities and even high-yield bonds, funds focused on CLO equity show little evidence of rebounding anytime soon from steep losses in total value.

Business development companies, the most visible pocket of the $800 billion private credit market, face more dividend cuts and possibly even restructurings later this year after the Covid-19 pandemic has bruised their portfolios.

The New York-based firm, which oversees about $6.5 trillion of assets, said in a research note Monday that 88% of sustainable indexes did better than their non-sustainable counterparts in the first four months of 2020.

The Federal Reserve's unprecedented scale of intervention sparked an immediate surge in demand for both investment-grade and junk bonds. Now that the program has started buying, it’s unclear what happens when – and if – the funding runs out.

A $425 million franchise-fee securitization sponsored by TGI Fridays has taken another ratings hit because of the 796-store chain’s increasingly poor financial performance, now magnified by COVID-19 stresses.

Credit firm HPS Investment Partners has committed nearly $5 billion to private debt opportunities since mid-March amid volatility caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

J.C. Penney Co., the department-store chain that’s been negotiating with creditors on a plan to restructure in bankruptcy court, made good on a missing loan payment and said it’s still considering solutions to its crushing debt load.

If a business isn’t prepared for situations like the Covid-19 outbreak that’s rattled markets, it’s often too late once such a crisis hits, Bruce Flatt said in a letter to shareholders Thursday.

But market observers remain unsure whether changes to the $100 billion Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility program will boost CLO investor demand or new-deal issuance, given key restrictions that remain in place.

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday sharply downgraded all of Hertz Global Holdings’ outstanding asset-backed bonds, amid growing doubts that the rental car company can pay off the notes in the event of a COVID-19 pandemic-driven bankruptcy.

The Federal Reserve said a facility designed to purchase eligible corporate debt from investors will launch today, bringing a key part of the U.S. central bank’s emergency coronavirus lending program online following weeks of anticipation

An indefinite closure of New York retail businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic added credit pressure on revenue bonds issued for the state’s largest mall.

The worst recession since the Great Depression is prompting indebted companies to default, and increasingly more will do so in a way that’s harder for investors to detect.

After ending 2019 on a high note, Ocwen Financial posted an income loss in the first quarter due to the unexpected costs and volatility created by COVID-19.

Three of the four had fewer new notices of delinquency for the quarter, but that should change going forward.