CLO issuance is expected to remain strong, supported by experienced managers and robust investor demand. The market could see record levels of issuance if the weighted average cost of debt tightens alongside increased supply of assets. M&A and LBO activity are expected to increase in 2025, driven by lower financing costs and higher C-suite confidence as recessionary fears fade. Loan refinancing is expected to moderate, and the near-term maturity wall has significantly decreased, reducing refinancing pressures. Overall, the market is expected to benefit from positive dynamics, with a constructive outlook for loan spreads and continued strong demand for CLOs.
For our complete analysis, read “European Senior Loans and CLO Market Outlook.”
Direct lending: Favorable setup for compelling risk-adjusted dynamics in 2025
Ron Kantowitz
The US economy continued to demonstrate strength in 2024, although core PCE, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, has proven more stubborn than expected. Further, labor markets continued to exhibit volatility, pandemic savings have become largely depleted, delinquency rates on auto loans and credit cards have continued to trend higher, and credit card balances are at the highest level we have seen in a decade. All this to say, that while we believe 2025 should be a compelling opportunity for the Direct Lending asset class, we remain disciplined, focused and cautious.
With the new US government administration coming into office, we are anticipating continued strength in the economy, coupled with potential inflationary pressures from some of the anticipated government policy changes. Should we experience a more restrictive tone, or at least a slower easing of monetary policy, we believe the US economy is well positioned to weather any challenges given GDP growth is trending close to 3.0% currently.
Importantly, we continue to see a very favorable setup for direct lending in 2025. Private equity firms continue to face mounting pressures from investors to provide liquidity as well as deploy the significant amount of new capital that has been raised in recent years. A conclusion to the election process without incident has been well received by the equity markets, which in turn has fueled a meaningful pickup in M&A volumes. With expectations for a higher-for-longer rate environment, we expect the risk/return dynamics for Direct Lending to continue to offer a compelling value proposition in 2025.
Distressed credit: Capital solutions continue to offer attractive return potential with less risk
Paul Triggiani
We continue to see exponential growth in our capital solutions opportunity set which has been a function of two decades of private equity buyouts in an effectively zero interest rate environment, followed by a pandemic, massive cost structure inflation, and approximately 500 basis points of base rate increase. These opportunities remain unique historically in the special situations universe in that there is nothing inherently distressed about many of these underlying businesses. They are, in general, strategically and operationally sound with excellent management teams and private equity sponsors.
However, private equity owners have been constrained by their capital structures, unable to grow equity value during the past decade. New product development, geographic expansion, accretive acquisitions – all growth avenues typically pursued by sponsors – have been sacrificed to service leverage levels that were only sustainable prior to today’s more restrictive monetary policy. Many of these companies have capital structures with debt that is unimpaired (worth “par”) where substantial equity value remains. It is just a matter of math that equity accounts have not grown since these buyouts occurred, given the cost of capital for floating rate borrowings has essentially doubled over the course of the last three years.