Cloud 9fin

The Steward situation is batsh*t crazy

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From a colony of bats plaguing one of its hospitals in Florida to an alleged connection to money laundering in Malta, Steward Health‘s descent into ...

Navigating the new paradigm with Rob Fawn of PGIM

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The current interest rate environment is driving a rise in downgrades, special situations and liability management exercises. But how to know which of...

Managing messaging with Jude Gorman of Collected Strategies

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Finance is about money, obviously, but it’s also about narratives. That’s especially true in the world of activist investing and proxy battles, an...

SBTi U-turn rocks world of sustainable finance

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The SBTi’s sudden change in stance on the use of carbon credits came as a shock in the world of sustainable finance last week.In this episode, our h...

Intrum in the red

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The end of cheap borrowing is showing its true colors — and for Intrum it’s a deep shade of red as the Swedish debt collector faces its own credit...

Control, Altice, Delete

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What do you get when a builder basket just keeps building, and building and building? You get a whole basketful of lenders caught off-guard by the mas...

Tailoring to the thesis with David Leland of BC Partners

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The question on everyone’s lips these days seems to be: are you going BSL, or are you going direct? But when private equity sponsors are building ou...

Who watches the WeightWatchers?

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Ozempic effect is coming for more than just your wardrobe! Last week, 9fin reported that a group of lenders to Weight Watchers parent WW Internat...

The best and worst of high yield bond covenants

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

European bond investors: your restricted payment builder baskets are under threat! But also, you’re probably better protected against being J.Screwe...

IWD Edition — Breaking through the bottleneck

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Everybody knows that finance is a male-dominated industry, and there are plenty of initiatives to change that. But when you look at the numbers, it ca...

Restructuring reflections with Chris Schubert, Alcentra

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

9fin sits down with Chris Schubert, executive director in special situations at Alcentra, to talk about his expectations for the distressed market thi...

Big shrimpin'

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who could have imagined that Red Lobster’s endless shrimp promotion might have unintended financial consequences?Does distress at retailers like Exp...

ESG regulations ramp up in the US

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In November 2023, California circumvented the US Securities and Exchange Commission and released two regulations aimed at increasing climate disclosur...

It’s raining repricings in Europe

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Repricing deals have flooded the European market over the past few weeks, with many companies taking advantage of lower interest rate forecasts and ti...

Riding the repricing wave, with Himani Trivedi of Nuveen

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

US leveraged loan borrowers are repricing their debt at a frenetic pace, and it’s starting to hurt — in some credits, they’re testing the base l...

A deep dive on cross-border recognition with Riz Mokal

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Cross-border recognition is where every good restructuring deal hopes to end. Recognition was historically a more clearcut part of a restructuring pro...

Bonds are back, baby!

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Loan repricings came thick and fast in the US market this week, with borrowers looking to slash their borrowing costs on more than $30bn of debt — b...

Cinven answers investors’ LBO Christmas wishes with Synlab takeover

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

German medical diagnostics provider Synlab answered investors’ Christmas wishes for another big European LBO deal by coming to market with €1.5bn ...

What the collapse of Enviva and Inclusive means for ESG

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The collapse of wood pellet producer Enviva last month was swift and brutal. The story’s not over yet for all of the company’s investors (for an e...

2023 review with CEO Steven Hunter

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Looking back on 2023, we’ve seen financial markets tested by ongoing geopolitical upheaval. We sit down with 9fin’s CEO Steven Hunter to take us t...

The release of ‘9fin AI’, GPT for LevFin

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“9fin AI enables our users to find and process the information they need quicker. Speed is essential in financial markets and debt is no exception.”...

Rich Byrne of BSP on why CRE lending is the real deal

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Commercial real estate is in crisis — specifically, office buildings.The pandemic unleashed an unpredictable torrent of changes in how people work a...

Corestate’s lawyers on its protracted “alternative” restructuring

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

German real estate is very in vogue in distressed land. In keeping with that trend, German real estate investment firm Corestate Capital is trying to ...

What's next for Adler's Restructuring Plan

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 21 April this year, the High Court sanctioned Adler Group's UK Restructuring Plan, enabling the group to pursue a solvent wind-down of operations a...

Talking ESG with lawyers, Sukhvir Basran and Alex Smith

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

ESG has had a rocky ride in 2023, so how is the legal sector responding?This week, 9fin’s Head of ESG, Jack David talks with prominent sustainabilit...

It's a Wonderful Life Settlement

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Life insurance, on the face of it, is not the most exciting industry. The secondary market for life insurance policies, however, presents the perfect ...

Q&A with Mike Scott, Man GLG

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The new high interest rate environment poses a huge challenge for companies with debt maturing in the next two years. What risks and opportunities do ...

Debt purchasers in the spotlight

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Debt purchasers must soon decide how they plan on addressing upcoming maturity walls, but they are facing scrutiny over their business models.For this...

Right placement, right time, with Jess Larsen, Briarcliffe Partners

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jess Larsen is in the right place at precisely the right time: after a tough period last year, investor interest in private credit is exploding once a...

The short seller's guide to credit, with Carson Block

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Carson Block is not an unfamiliar name, at least in the equity markets. He and his short-activism fund Muddy Waters Research have been at the center o...

Private credit CLOs are coming our way

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When JP Morgan priced Ivy Hill XXI in July it marked the bank's entry into middle-market CLO arranging and underlined the expansion of the mid-market ...

Banks push back on private credit with Eric Muller, Oak Hill Advisors

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can banks really compete with the big guns of private credit? Many are trying — but there are multiple constraints holding them back, from regulatio...

A new dawn for J Crew Blockers? Strong formulations we’ve seen in 2023

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lenders tend to feel reassured knowing their docs have a J Crew blocker, but not all J Crew blockers offer the protection they might expect.For this w...

The pipe is ripe

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been a hot and heavy summer, and the pipeline is looking encouragingly full for next month — especially compared to this time last year.For t...

ESG specialist Rupert Davies — setbacks and opportunities

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

ESG investing has come under increased scrutiny for its ability to effect change in recent months, following the controversial Sustainable Finance Dis...

Penn raises the sports betting stakes with ESPN deal

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Casino operator Penn Entertainment is betting that a $2bn partnership with ESPN will supercharge the company’s foray into the online sports wagering...

Q&A with Marlene Ruf, on Leoni’s restructuring

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

German wire and cables manufacturer Leoni is in the process of implementing its restructuring plan, approved by the Nurembourg court under the new Ger...

Talking junior capital with Chris Wright of Crescent

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes it feels like the next wave of distress in the debt markets is always two quarters away. What if it’s already here — less of a tsunami a...

German Real Estate Special Report

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Recent developments in the German Real Estate industry have attracted significant attention due to controversial governance and questionable transacti...

The rulemaker that wants to be a rating agency

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Credit ratings are one of the foundations of modern credit markets — and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners wants in on the action....

Will Thames Water stay afloat?

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Will Thames Water’s overflowing £14bn debt pile lead to its downfall? Or should everyone pipe down?Bianca Boorer sits down with Owen Sanderson to d...

Securitize for a J.Crew reprise

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The infamous J.Crew maneuver was a bombshell, setting a blueprint for contentious liability management deals and sparking a wave of efforts to block s...

Pemberton’s Cassandra Fahy talks ESG in private credit

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thanks to rising scrutiny from investors, ESG is no longer just a second thought in private credit dealmaking. It’s now a must-have.Private funds ar...

Talking Libor transition with Dan Ko, Eagle Point Credit Management

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The end of Libor is a little over a week away, and some US corporate borrowers are still racing to switch their floating rate loans to SOFR ahead of t...

SBB’s fall from grace

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget (SBB) has had a tough couple of months, after losing its investment grade rating and with some bondholders now arguing the com...

The household names in private credit, with Craig Packer of Blue Owl

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Private credit is attracting plenty of new faces these days, but as we wrote in this week’s Unicrunch newsletter, a handful of household names domin...

Pizza Express started a record label

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why is Pizza Express getting into the music business? Well, these plans have been in the works for a while, and they actually make more sense than you...

Bruno Cova, Greenberg Traurig

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

9fin’s distressed reporter Bianca Boorer travels to Milan to sit down with Bruno Cova, Partner and European co-chair of restructuring and insolvency...

Artificial analysts aren't at all amazing

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ever pulled an all-nighter to prepare a pitch, or had your weekend ruined by a last-minute fire drill from your MD? Imagine if artificial intelligence...

Drop-downs, the Lycra variant

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Announcing a refinancing on the day your debt matures is an unusual move — and indeed, Lycra’s refinancing stretched some boundaries. But it’s a...

Focus and Foresight

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When is a change in control not a change of control? That is the question some Focus Financial lenders are asking after the company managed to finance...

Benteler, private take-privates and SFDR updates

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin team explores the influence of Benteler’s debut bond deal with Josh Latham. Josie Shillito guides us through the growing trend of private t...

The early days of private credit, with Tim Lyne of Antares Capital

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

These days, private credit is becoming so popular that you could be forgiven for thinking it was a recent invention.But some people were doing private...

Ben Thompson, JP Morgan

25 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

9fin sits down with Ben Thompson, JP Morgan's Head of EMEA Leveraged Finance Debt Capital Markets on 24 April 2023. He gives us his insights into how ...

Adler, 2022 Covenant Trends and ESG within LevFin

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin team takes a look into Adler’s restructuring in the UK High Court with Chris Haffenden. Brian Dearing takes us through a report on 2022 cov...

Preaching to the unconverted

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s kind of debt, and kind of equity. It’s been around for decades, but has recently come back into fashion.What is it? It’s convertible debt.C...

Liability Management with Andy Hagan, Tom Richards and Gilles Teerlinck of Weil, Gotshal & Manges

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Primary markets are not as simple as they used to be. How can borrowers navigate the choppy waters of today’s credit markets to manage their liabili...

Making marks in private credit

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Unlike liquid leveraged loans, private debt is not frequently traded (although there are signs that this might be changing) and thus can be hard to va...

Boris Okuliar, Ares

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

9fin sits down with Boris Okuliar, portfolio manager and co-head of Global Liquid Credit in the Ares Credit Group. He gives us his opinions on the sta...

Bank runs, bailouts and Basel

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As Mike Tyson once said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Who knew he was predicting the policy response to the first big bank...

Tim Metzgen and Tom Paterson, A&M

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Katharine Hidalgo sits down with two debt advisers from Alvarez & Marsal to discuss what they foresee for the market. Tim Metzgen, Managing Direct...

The Fed, add-backs, et Cetera

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone knows interest rates are higher than they were last year. No-one can say for sure where they’ll be this time next year, but people have a f...

CLO demand

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin editorial team ask where are the deals? Securitisation reporter and acting levfin editor Owen Sanderson discusses CLO trends in 2023 and dema...

Optimus Subprime

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US auto lending industry is a finance juggernaut, but not all auto loans are made equal. In this episode of Cloud 9fin, Will Caiger-Smith sits dow...

Ceconomy, 2022 covenants, ESG database

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin team takes a look into Ceconomy and its oversold risks with Emmet McNally. Brian Dearing gives us a preview into a report on 2022 covenant tr...

Tried so hard, and got SOFR...

03 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

...but in the end, does it even really matter? Leveraged loan investors are railing against suboptimal credit-spread adjustments as borrowers transiti...

Stuart Brinkworth, Mayer Brown

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Katharine Hidalgo sits down with Stuart Brinkworth to discuss private credit's latest trends. We discuss documentation, the impact of rising interest ...

New beginnings, old problems

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's our first US episode of 2023, and January is off to a flying start — at least for the high yield bond market. But what about loans, where banke...

2023 Predictions

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin editorial team discusses trends they expect to see in 2023 in the leveraged finance, restructuring and CLO spaces.

Veon, VimpelCom and Russian sanctions

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The holidays are upon us, but sanctions never sleep. This week, 9fin's Bianca Boorer has been in court covering Veon's creative use of UK restructurin...

2022 Review

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin editorial team has been with you all year to discuss the major trends affecting the leveraged finance industry. In this 2022 wrap up we discu...

When MFN disputes meet private credit

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What does MFN stand for? Why does it appear in corporate credit agreements? Why would borrowers try to get around it and what happens when they succee...

PRI In Person Wrap Up - Net Zero special

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this special episode the Cloud 9fin team discusses their experience of the PRI In Person conference in Barcelona and speaks to delegates from Neube...

Holiday news roundup

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's Thanksgiving week in the US, which normally means the beginning of the end for the year's primary issuance — but this year might not follow the...

Orpea, structural adjustments, SFDR disclosures

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wrap up the week's activity and co-head of European loans research Jainisha Amin discusses structural adjustments....

The CLO reinvestment crunch

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The primary market is back open (for now) but there's a slow squeeze happening in secondary. Liquidity is poor, and lower-rated credits are underperfo...

Maturity wall, Envision, SFDR

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wrap up the week's activity and senior legal analyst Alice Holian discusses dangerous covenant pitfalls with regar...

The direct lending wave, with Marisa Sotomayor of King & Spalding

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Moving or storage? Fix and flip or buy and hold? These days, investment banks are under increasing pressure to compete with private credit firms — t...

CLO market, subordination, Verisure

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity and co-head of European HY research Brian Dearing discusses subordination with regard...

ESG's identity crisis

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, a group of climate protestors stormed a panel at a US private equity conference and lambasted ESG. A few weeks earlier, Texas and Florida ...

Dwindling pipeline, MFN, Graanul Invest

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity and co-head of European loans research Jainisha Amin explains MFN clauses. Loans repo...

The new playbook for LBOs

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For LBO underwriters, the good old days are well and truly over. The Citrix syndication, which officially closed last week, showed how banks are pulli...

IPEM Wrap Up - PE special

22 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this special episode the Cloud9fin team discusses their experience of the IPEM conference in Cannes, speaks to delegates and gives you a special lo...

Anti-woke investing, with Matt Cole of Strive Asset Management

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you go from working from one of the world's biggest advocates for ESG investing to joining a firm that thinks ESG is a scam? Our US editor Will...

Bonus episode: Citrix bond docs

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Special bonus episode of Cloud 9fin, the leveraged finance podcast. Co-head of European HY covenant research Caitlin Carey discusses bond docs on the ...

Q2 earnings, mortgage regulation, Ford

08 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity. Speakers from the Investors Conference on UK Mortgage Finance go into detail on mort...

The Fed, LBOs and a weird second quarter, with Jeremy Burton of PineBridge Investments

01 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Labor Day beckons, which means it's nearly the end of summer — and it's been a weird one. As we try to make sense of yet another strange post-Covid...

PDA, redemption mechanics trends

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity, co-head of European HY research Brian Dearing and credit analyst Nathan Mitchell dis...

Equities, inflation and the LBO backlog, with John Fraser of Tikehau Capital

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's been a weird summer: equities have rebounded and there's been some good news on inflation, but with rates still extremely high and a big LBO back...

Victoria Plc, investor pushback, Ekaterra ESG issues

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity and co-heads of European loans research Jainisha Amin and Christine Tognoli discuss w...

The talent wars, with credit recruiter Sasha Jensen

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do you stay ahead in the war for talent and make sure you're building a diverse team? We have questions, and Sasha Jensen — founder of credit re...

Underwriting, US v European documentation, greenium

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity, co-heads of European loans research Jainisha Amin and Christine Tognoli discuss wher...

The primary slowdown, with Kris Ring of Goodwin Procter

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're back to outside guests this week, as 9fin's US editor Will Caiger-Smith dials up Kris Ring, a debt finance partner at Goodwin Procter on the Wes...

Direct lending, 888 docs, SLB regulation

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity, co-head of European loans research Christine Tognoli talks about changes seen on 888...

The rumble in the refi jungle

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The cost of refinancing gets higher and higher almost every day. This week, Will Caiger-Smith sits down with David Bell, 9fin's new US deputy editor, ...

Food inflation, docs changes, Orpea ESG issues

01 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity, senior covenant analyst Brian Dearing and legal analyst Alice Holian discuss some ne...

From LBO to LB-no

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you're an investment bank, the leveraged buyout market is a dangerous place these days. This week, US editor Will Caiger-Smith brings 9fin's CEO St...

Global ABS Wrap Up

17 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this special episode the Cloud9fin team discusses their experience of the Global ABS conference in Barcelona, speaks to delegates and gives you a s...

Maxar Technologies and Ukraine

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cloud 9fin goes for the W, as US editor Will Caiger-Smith dials up reporter William Hoffman to talk about Maxar Technologies. The satellite imaging co...

Laboratoire X.O, restricted subsidiaries, ESG webinar

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 9fin content and analytics team wraps up the week's activity, head of covenant research Caitlin Carey discusses why not all restricted subsidiarie...