Middle Market

For the April edition of Debtwire’s Middle Market Podcast, senior reporter Bill Weisbrod spoke with Capital Dynamics’ managing director Jens Ernberg regarding lower middle market private credit investing amid inflationary pressure and supply chain disruptions, and why he believes that the asset class remains a compelling area of the credit market. Ernberg is the co-head of private at Capital Dynamics, an asset management firm.

For the latest edition of Debtwire’s Middle Market Podcast, Sean Laffere of Alvarez & Marsal joined senior reporter Bill Weisbrod to discuss the current state of supply chains, how levered middle market companies are navigating the current economic environment and the outlook for inflation in the US in light of today’s geopolitical landscape. Laffere, a managing director, is the national solution leader for A&M's corporate performance improvement supply chain services practice.

For the latest edition of Debtwire’s Middle Market Podcast, New Mountain Capital managing director John Kline discussed his firm’s strategy in the private credit market. Last month, New Mountain announced the close of its New Mountain Guardian III direct lending fund with USD 1.15bn in capital commitments. Kline reviewed how New Mountain plans to invest that money, including preferred sectors, pricing premiums in smaller deals amid the growth of jumbo unitranche loans, as well as the future of the business development company market. CLICK HERE to list to the podcast.

In the latest edition of Debtwire’s Middle Market Podcast, a pair of partners in Proskauer’s Private Credit Restructuring Group stopped by to discuss takeaways from last year’s upheaval and expectations for the next wave of restructuring, whenever that may be. David Hillman and Chad Dale addressed issues unique to middle market private credit, such as preferences for in-court versus out-of-court restructuring and why creditors have different incentives in club deals as opposed to syndicated credit facilities.

Alston & Bird partners Mike Parisi and Paul Hespel talked about the state of play in middle market lending, the K-shaped recovery, the increased competition for deals and the outlook for lender protections in 2022.

In the latest edition of Debtwire’s Middle Market Podcast, Wynnchurch Capital Partners managing director Vishal Garg joined Senior Reporter Bill Weisbrod to discuss the impact of rising commodity prices on middle market companies. Garg discussed supply chain disruptions, working capital pressures, hedging strategies and how midcap companies can withstand margin pressures, including passing prices on to customers. CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast

In the latest episode of Debtwire's Middle Market Podcast, Patrick Gilbert, Managing Director and Head of Underwriting at Summit Investment Management, joined reporters Giovanna Bellotti Azevedo and Catherine Perloff to discuss the current state of distress investing amid hot credit markets and easy monetary policy, following a short cycle of distress triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Patrick shared insight into where distress funds are finding opportunities right now and how the current scenario differs from the state of affairs at the onset of the pandemic. He also talked about how he sees the opportunity set evolving in 2022 for distress investors in the middle market.

In the latest edition of Debtwire’s Middle Market Podcast, senior reporter Bill Weisbrod spoke with a pair of Proskauer attorneys specializing in business development companies (BDCs).

Proskauer Partner Will Tuttle and Senior Counsel David Marcinkus, a former SEC attorney, addressed topics such as the portfolio valuation process, regulatory matters facing closed-end funds and the current state of BDCs’ access to capital markets.

CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast

In the latest episode of Debtwire’s Middle Market Podcast, Eva Shang, co-founder and chief executive officer at Legalist, joined reporter Giovanna Bellotti Azevedo to share insight on the DIP financing market for middle-market companies in the wake of COVID-19 related distress. Originally founded as a litigation finance firm in 2016 by two Harvard dropouts, Legalist made its first foray into bankruptcy last year. Shang discussed inequities access to restructuring opportunities and talked about where her fund is seeing pockets of distress in the middle market, as restructuring slows down amid ample market liquidity. She also provided an outlook for middle market distress as economies return to normalcy following the vaccine roll-out.

In the latest episode of Debtwire's Middle Market Podcast, Casey Alexander, senior vice president and analyst at Compass Point Research & Trading, joined reporters Catherine Perloff and Bill Weisbrod to share insight on the business development company (BDC) sector's volatile trajectory in 2020. The VanEck Vectors BDC Index dropped to its lowest level since the ETF's launch in 2013 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, only to swiftly regain both equity and book value over the course of the year.

Alexander discussed how BDCs were able to weather 2020 without major threats to their own liquidity and that of their borrowers and explained how managers handled rapidly changing deal volume. He also provided an outlook for the BDC space in 2021 as markets return to normalcy.