As banks get pummeled by risk aversion and sinking asset values, direct lenders are lavishing risky companies and private-equity firms with capital at rates below what’s available in the volatility-lashed high yield and syndicated loan market.
“We have seen a few cases in which private credit firms swooped in and participated heavily in deals that otherwise would have been distributed -- or even were in the process of being distributed -- solely to the public markets at the same contractual terms and even tighter pricing than the syndicated markets were willing to provide,” said Scott Macklin, director of leveraged loans at AllianceBernstein.