Cloud 9fin

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 fairly good idea. Given those expectations, it’s no surprise that some brokerage companies are using rate-related adjustments to boost their EBITDA. But is there a way these adjustments could go awry? This week, Will Caiger-Smith and Emily Fasold dig in...

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

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 down with reporter William Hoffman to dig into two of the high yield market's best known subprime auto lenders. What does the future have in store for these companies as consumer credit quality teeters on the brink of a downturn?

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 trends and Tom Hudson discusses the pitfalls and obstacles his engineering team faced when building 9fin's ESG company database.

...but in the end, does it even really matter? Leveraged loan investors are railing against suboptimal credit-spread adjustments as borrowers transition their coupons away from Libor to SOFR. Some of them are even considering legal action. Do they have a case? Will Caiger-Smith and David Bell dive into the niche administrative issue that suddenly became a new battleground in leveraged credit.

Katharine Hidalgo sits down with Stuart Brinkworth to discuss private credit's latest trends. We discuss documentation, the impact of rising interest costs on businesses and what to expect from 2023. Brinkworth is Mayer Brown's head of Leveraged Finance in Europe and a partner in the Banking & Finance practice of the London office. 

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 bankers are still stuck with billions of hung bridge debt and private credit continues to eat up would-be syndicated supply? Will Caiger-Smith dials up deputy editor David Bell to decode the year so far.

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

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 restructuring law to pay down its Russian bondholders and cut ties with VimpleCom, its Moscow subsidiary. She explains this complex transaction for Will Caiger-Smith.

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 discuss the Russia-Ukraine war's impact on the industry, inflation and how the sellside tackled its hung pipeline. We don't go so far as to predict 2023 trends just yet, but we reckon A&Es will play a big part. Thanks to all our listeners and contribu...

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 succeed? And what does all of this mean for the private credit market after years of hot dealmaking? Will Caiger-Smith and Bill Weisbrod break it all down.

In this special episode the Cloud 9fin team discusses their experience of the PRI In Person conference in Barcelona and speaks to delegates from Neuberger Berman, Alliance Bernstein, BNP Paribas and Circle Economy.

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 normal rules. We round up recent primary market news, explain the deteriorating outlook in the building products and software sectors, and unpack some new data around investor-facing hires on the buyside.

The 9fin content and analytics team wrap up the week's activity and co-head of European loans research Jainisha Amin discusses structural adjustments. ESG analyst Sammy Cole does a second part on new developments in SFDR and editor Chris Haffenden and distressed debt reporter Bianca Boorer talk Orpea's new restructuring plan.

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 underperforming — and it's going to get worse before it gets better. Will Caiger-Smith sits down with Emily Fasold to talk about the reinvestment crunch.

The 9fin content and analytics team wrap up the week's activity and senior legal analyst Alice Holian discusses dangerous covenant pitfalls with regard to Envision. ESG analyst Sammy Cole talks about new developments in SFDR and credit analyst Josh Latham and loans reporter Laura Thompson discuss European high-yield's upcoming maturity wall.

Moving or storage? Fix and flip or buy and hold? These days, investment banks are under increasing pressure to compete with private credit firms — that's why many of them have set up their own direct lending groups. Marisa Sotomayor sits down with Will Caiger-Smith to explain how these businesses work.

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 to the recent Brightspeed and Carnival deals. ESG analyst Oliver Wise makes his debut on the pod to discuss Verisure's ESG issues and loans reporter Kat Hidalgo and US editor Will Caiger-Smith discuss the health of the CLO market in the light of Jap...

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 had blacklisted ESG investment firms or banned the use of the practice. How did Republican politicians and left-wing activists end up united in their criticism of ESG?

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 reporter Kat Hidalgo and Michal Skypala talk the steadily drying leveraged loans pipeline and ESG analyst Dan Power talks about issues on Graanul Invest and the biomass industry. 

For LBO underwriters, the good old days are well and truly over. The Citrix syndication, which officially closed last week, showed how banks are pulling out all the stops to offload risk while minimizing losses — and this new playbook involves some potentially awkward and painful consequences. Will Caiger-Smith sits down with Steven Hunter, 9fin's CEO, to map out this brave new world.

In this special episode the Cloud9fin team discusses their experience of the IPEM conference in Cannes, speaks to delegates and gives you a special look into two panel discussions from the event.

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 Caiger-Smith talks to Matt Cole, a former CalPERS portfolio manager who recently moved to Strive Asset Management — the "anti-woke" investment firm that wants to compete with the likes of BlackRock and Vanguard.

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

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 mortgage regulation, impacting levfin issuers like Miller Homes and Keepmoat. ESG analyst Sammy Cole breaks down Ford's new green bond and loans reporters Kat Hidalgo and Michal Skypala talk trends in Q2 earnings.  0:00 - Intro 0:48 - Levfin Wrap 1:59 -...