Debtwired!

In this episode, Debtwire's Amelia Weitzman is joined by Nael Khatoun, an MD and portfolio manager within Oaktree’s European private credit strategy. We dive into the newly formed partnership between Oaktree Capital and Lloyds Bank, a strategic alliance aiming to redefine private credit solutions in the UK’s highly competitive market. Our guest discusses how this collaboration is already creating valuable opportunities by blending Lloyds' market expertise with Oaktree’s capital strategies, delivering faster, more flexible financing options for clients in a tightening credit environment. We also explore key market risks, including elevated interest rates, the rising influence of retail investors in private credit, and sector-specific investment trends such as life sciences and NAV finance. #privatecredit #directlending #M&A #debt #debtwire

Debtwire's Amelia Weitzman is joined by Ambarish Dash and Will Nevin, partners within Herbert Smith Freehill’s banking and finance division. Will is a London-based partner with over 20 years of experience in acquisition and leveraged finance, and Ambarish is also partner in the London office specializing in domestic and cross-border leveraged finance, particularly advising private equity sponsors and financial institutions on acquisition financings.We’ll hear their views on recent trends in the financial institutions market, or ‘FIG’ as it’s referred to, with a focus on private credit terms.#privatecredit #FIG #HerbertSmithFreehills

On this episode of the Debtwired! Podcast, Ben Thompson, Head of EMEA Leveraged Finance Capital Markets at JP Morgan, discusses the outlook for primary issuance in the European leveraged loan and high-yield bond markets with Jelena Cvejic, Debtwire Europe’s Head of Leveraged Loans.As we are currently closing in on the second-busiest year ever in terms of gross volume in the European leveraged finance market, Thompson shares an overview of the pace and type of issuance expected in the fourth quarter.During the conversation, we discuss the evolving demand and supply dynamics, including the flow of money across floating and fixed rate asset classes, CLO creations, yield compression, refinancing and new money activity, as well as M&A and LBO deal making.We also touch upon the co-existence of the leveraged loan and high-yield bond markets with private credit.#leveragedfinance #leveragedloans #highyieldbonds #CLOs #M&A #LBO

South Square Barrister Georgina Peters and Sarah Paterson, Professor of Law at LSE, discuss the court’s discretion when sanctioning a restructuring plan.

On the latest episode of the Debtwired! podcast, Mohamed Damak, Managing Director, Global Head of Islamic Finance at S&P Global Ratings, joins Debtwire CEEMEA's Mariam Meskin to delve into one of the latest developments in the sukuk market. AAOIFI, the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions, last year published its draft of Shariah Standard No. 62, which — if adopted as proposed — would alter the credit profile of sukuk from an asset-based structure to an asset-backed one.The standard could be adopted and formalised by as soon as next year. Its implementation could "disrupt" the global sukuk market, as Mohamed outlines in this podcast. In his capacity as Global Head of Islamic Finance at S&P Global Ratings, Mohamed leads their cross-practice analytical thought leadership initiatives and credit rating activities in the Islamic Finance sector globally.

In this episode, Hossein Dabiri, Head of Court Reporting at Debtwire EMEA and Dawn Grocock, Senior Legal Analyst at Debtwire Europe, recap some of the key legal and court developments from the first half of the year.

In this episode with host Amelia Weitzman, a direct lending reporter at Debtwire Europe, you will hear from Peter Dahlen, who is Global co-head of leveraged finance at Clifford Chance.Peter has been a partner since 2013 and regularly advises corporate borrowers across leveraged finance, private credit and restructuring deals.We’ll hear his summary of market conditions this year so far, his expectations for the months ahead, and crucially, his perception of risk in the current debt environment.

On this episode Debtwire's Senior Legal Analyst Dawn Grocock speaks with Kirkland's Kon Asimacopoulos, Sean Lacey, Hannah Crawford and Kate Stephenson about the state of the restructuring market, the latest on UK restructuring plans, and where the Kirkland team see the market heading.

In this episode, Claire Matheson Kirton, a partner at White & Case, joins Debtwire CEEMEA’s Laura Gardner to explore the rise in investment from the Middle East into Africa.With China stepping back as a major financier across the continent, Gulf economies are jumping in to meet Africa's vast infrastructure and energy needs.GCC investors are seizing diversification opportunities in sectors such as renewable energy, real estate, telecoms, and agriculture in a region experiencing rapid urbanisation and real economic growth needs, Claire explains.She also delves into whether this growing partnership could spur the rise of Islamic finance across Africa.Based in Dubai, Claire is a partner in White & Case’s Global Debt Finance Practice and has extensive experience in both conventional and Sharia-compliant transactions.#GCC #Africa #projectfinance #infrastructure #renewableenergy #islamicfinance

The podcast’s guest, Brian Himot, will also discuss the latest trends in private credit and opportunistic lending and several deals that SVP closed recently.

On this episode, we speak with Maples Group’s Kat Burke about the Irish restructuring toolkit and in particular, its potential as an implementation route for global workouts. Kat is Of Counsel in the Dispute Resolution & Insolvency team at Maples Group, Dublin. She is an Irish, English, US and BVI qualified corporate restructuring lawyer and has experience in key restructuring jurisdictions including New York and London.

On this episode of the Debtwired! podcast, Till Schweizer, Managing Director at Partners Group, joins Debtwire Europe’s Jelena Cvejic to discuss the current demand and supply dynamics in the leveraged loan market, and CLO positioning in light of a generally strong market and an increasing number of underperforming credits.Till Schweizer has been with Partners Group since 2007 and has 18 years of industry experience. He is part of the Liquid Loans business unit, based in London, and a member of the Global Liquid Loans Investment Committee and Structured Credit Investment Committee.Schweizer reflects on the growing strength of the leveraged loan market and gives his outlook on upcoming loan supply and the revival of M&A activity.He then takes us through the evolving CLO landscape and shares his views on new CLO issuance, refinancing, resets, and liquidations. As we touch upon the effect of higher-for-longer interest rates on the sustainability of capital structures, Schweizer talks about positioning CLOs amid an increasing number of underperforming credits.He highlights the relevance of loan documentation features such as basket capacities and the ability to change governing law in cross-border transactions, given a recent increase in liability management exercises in the US. #leveragedfinance #leveragedloans #CLOs

DLA Piper’s David Manson unpacks the key lessons from Germany-focused real estate business Aggregate Holdings’ contested restructuring plan process before the English High Court in an interview with Debtwire Europe’s Hossein Dabiri.

On the latest episode of the Debtwired! Podcast, Hannah Gates answers a range of questions on how private credit and bank lending markets are converging in new and unforeseen ways with Debtwire Europe’s Johannes Koch.Hannah specialises in lender-side domestic and cross-border leveraged finance transactions across the credit spectrum. Her practice covers acquisition and event-driven finance, and other structured finance transactions, across a wide range of capital structures.Her extensive experience of private credit transactions makes her ideally placed to advise clients on transactions where potential financing options require knowledge of both the syndicated and private debt markets.#privatecredit #banklending #leveragedbuyouts #debtwired #podcast

On the Debtwired! Podcast, Carson Block, CEO of Muddy Waters, joins Debtwire Europe’s Head of High Yield Adam Samoon to discuss short selling trades in credit.Muddy Waters has exposed accounting issues and fraud at many global companies. This podcast examines what operational characteristics provide fundamentals for good short trades and monitors examples of trades that have been implemented.A number of bonds in the European real estate sector have had large price drops in recent years. Real estate risks are considered alongside current short trade ideas across other geographies and sectors.Lastly, the podcast explores if short selling has become harder to implement due to the new paradigm of reduced secondary liquidity and CDS orphanage event risks.

In this episode, we speak with Freshfields’ Craig Montgomery and Lindsay Hingston about Adler’s landmark restructuring plan, considering some of the key takeaways for future UK restructuring plans. German real estate group Adler’s UK restructuring plan secured its place in legal history recently as the English Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by a group of dissenting noteholders, overturning the High Court’s April 2023 decision to sanction the plan. This is the first time the UK’s restructuring plan tool – which came into force in 2020 – has been considered by the appellate court.#restructuring #restructuringplan #part26A #insolvency #Adler #germany #distresseddebt #bondworkout #CIGA2020 #germanrealestate #courtofappeal #lordjusticesnowden #part26arestructuringplan #litigation #disputeresolution

In this episode, we speak with Simmons and Simmons’ Christopher Kranz and Simon Kirschner, about the German StaRUG procedure, with a focus on the innovative Softline restructuring.The German Act on the Stabilisation and Restructuring Framework for Businesses (StaRUG) came into force on 1 January 2021, implementing the EU Restructuring Directive – which obliges all EU member states to establish preventive restructuring frameworks – into German law.Last year, the StaRUG procedure experienced a number of “firsts”, with high profile cases including Leoni and Gerry Weber. One particularly innovative case was that of listed IT company Softline. Our speakers acted for the majority shareholder Noventiq, which took over the entire equity under the StaRUG.#restructuring #germany #preventiverestructuringframeworks #staRUG #softline #insolvency #eurestructuringdirective #distresseddebt #germanlaw

Dominik Spanier, MD at Lincoln International, joins Debtwire’s Johannes Koch to look at the year ahead for private debt in the German-speaking region and scour the market for challenges and opportunities for debt advisors.#privatedebt #Europe #Germany #LincolnInternational #debtadvisor

Florian Kluge, MD and COO Investor Relations at Ardian, joins Debtwire’s Johannes Koch to talk about how the fundraising market is developing and explore whether private debt has reached its peak.Florian Kluge joined Ardian in 2017. As managing director he is engaged in the firm’s fundraising efforts and closely involved in the firm’s relationships with investors in Germany, Austria and the UK.Florian takes us through which asset classes are getting tougher to raise money for and highlights LPs current pain points and return expectations.Finally we hone in on the private debt class and explore whether fundraising for the asset class has reached its peak.

Lee Buchheit, Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh Law School, talks about the use of value recovery instruments to resolve sovereign debt workouts with Debtwire's Laura Gardner.Lee takes us back to the origins of these tools, which were first used as part of the 1990s Brady-era debt restructurings.While in principle used to sweeten the deal for bondholders agreeing to significant upfront debt relief, Lee argues that they face a number of difficulties, both from the debtor and creditor perspective.Lee then looks at recent cases in Suriname, Zambia, and Sri Lanka to see how they have incorporated new elements into their value recovery instruments.#sovereigndebt #zambia #suriname #srilanka #ghana #restructuring