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Global economic concerns are impacting the leveraged loans market

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Global economic concerns eating into the leveraged loans market, thus making it more difficult for private equity to close deals.

Why it matters: Five U.S. leveraged loan offerings have been pulled so far this month. Summer vacations could be to blame, but this summer is the exception. Instead, the last such slowdown came at year-end 2018, mirroring broader economic worries.

  • Some offerings are still moving forward, but often with more lender-friendly terms or reduced offering sizes. Ancestry.com just did both, for a dividend recap that would benefit owner Silver Lake Partners.
  • Better credits are always, well, better credits. But those on the wrong side of the tracks are being treated worse than is usual.

Policy matters: If you're an issuer with significant exposure to the U.S.-China trade war — which significantly escalated this morning — then you've got to give on pricing. And it's become hard to sell with a floating-rate, given Fed uncertainty that is unlikely to be resolved today in Jackson Hole.

The big picture: The leveraged loan market's real test will come after Labor Day, when the spigot turns significantly to the left.

Go deeper: China announces retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. goods

Go deeper

Jonathan Swan
6 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Scoop: Gina Haspel threatened to resign over plan to install Kash Patel as CIA deputy

CIA Director Gina Haspel. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

CIA Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign in early December after President Trump cooked up a hasty plan to install loyalist Kash Patel, a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), as her deputy, according to three senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

Why it matters: The revelation stunned national security officials and almost blew up the leadership of the world's most powerful spy agency. Only a series of coincidences — and last minute interventions from Vice President Mike Pence and White House counsel Pat Cipollone — stopped it.

Go deeper (3 min. read)Arrow
Axios
Updated 8 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Health: Coronavirus deaths reach 4,000 per day as hospitals remain in crisis mode — CDC warns highly transmissible coronavirus variant could become dominant in U.S. in March.
  2. Politics: Biden says, "We will manage the hell out of" vaccine distribution — Biden taps ex-FDA chief to lead Operation Warp Speed amid rollout of COVID plan — Widow of GOP congressman-elect who died of COVID-19 will run to fill his seat.
  3. Vaccine: Battling Black mistrust of the vaccines — "Pharmacy deserts" could become vaccine deserts — Instacart to give $25 to shoppers who get vaccine.
  4. Economy: Unemployment filings explode again — Fed chair: No interest rate hike coming any time soon —  Inflation rose more than expected in December.
  5. World: WHO team arrives in China to investigate pandemic origins.
Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Lachlan Markay
8 hours ago - Politics & Policy

John Weaver, Lincoln Project co-founder, acknowledges “inappropriate” messages

John Weaver aboard John McCain's campaign plane in February 2000. Photo: Robert Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

John Weaver, a veteran Republican operative who co-founded the Lincoln Project, declared in a statement to Axios on Friday that he sent “inappropriate,” sexually charged messages to multiple men.

  • “To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry. They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you,” Weaver said.
  • “The truth is that I'm gay,” he added. “And that I have a wife and two kids who I love. My inability to reconcile those two truths has led to this agonizing place.”
Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow

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