Leveraged loans

They and other firms are seeking to replicate the windfalls many enjoyed in the aftermath of the financial crisis when, by taking advantage of low-cost loans via the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, they were able to notch double-digit returns purchasing top-rated ABS as the economy recovered

The U.S. leveraged loan market is springing back to life with new deals for T-Mobile US Inc. and Delta Air Lines on deck for investors willing to take on risk.

Competition is starting to ease in the $812 billion private credit market as the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic forces some lenders to tend to problems in their own portfolios.

Rising default levels have produced strain on many collateralized loan obligations, many of which are now approaching breaches of covenant tests on minimum weighted-average ratings factors and maximum holdings of triple-C rated loan assets.

The Distressed Credit Opportunities Fund III money pool, dubbed Disco III, will target leveraged loans, high-yield bonds and collateralized loan obligations.

Instead of just seeking out distressed situations, the Dislocation Opportunities Fund has a wide mandate to buy corporate and asset-backed debt.

The fund will be similar to the first iteration, which gathered $2.4 billion last year and focused on lending to family- and entrepreneur-owned businesses.

Analysts and ratings companies are sounding alarms as a number of BDCs rush to shore up finances, or throw lifelines to their heavily indebted borrowers.

Fitch expects a majority of European CLO junior notes to be placed on a potential downgrade watch due to enhanced evaluation for coronavirus-related stresses.

There’s no reason to punish companies for failing to see a history-changing, once-in-a-century pandemic, or anticipate the shutdowns that would result.

For years, regulators have tried to make the financial system safer by blocking banks from taking on the extreme leverage that almost toppled the industry in 2008. Turns out, the risks just moved.

Speculative-grade borrowers are different because they made a conscious choice to take on more debt in the hopes of generating bigger returns for equity holders. They did this even though they knew it would make them more vulnerable in an economic downturn.

Direct lenders around the world are talking with borrowers about easing interest payments, waiving penalties and relaxing covenants as they assess the growing damage to their portfolios caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The amount of distressed debt in the U.S. has quadrupled in less than a week to nearly $1 trillion, reaching levels not seen since 2008 as the collapse of oil prices and fallout from the coronavirus shutters entire industries across the globe.

Dramatic Fed intervention may steady some markets, but unless something changes — and, judging by the last two weeks, it very well could — the central bank won’t be there to save fallen angels. Which brave investors will step up?

Red flags and warning signs from February should have prompted investors to make “all the wise decisions" at that time, says Ville Talasmaki of Finnish financial group Sampo Oyj.

While collapsing market prices do not present immediate worries for CLO managers, the prospect of future downgrades and defaults becomes more problematic.

Prices for major term loans issued by operators such as Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide and Caesars Entertainment have fallen in recent weeks as investors grow worried about the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on global tourist and business travel.

Banks may be protected from a direct hit, but they have invested in vehicles that include such loans, potentially exposing them to defaults.

Exchange traded funds tracking leveraged-loan performance saw sharp declines on Monday, following a Friday leveraged loan index decline that was the steepest in nearly a decade.