Think

The sellside’s steady messaging that there’s a lack of a meaningful calendar behind current loan activity is resonating with investors, although LFI continues to track $38.2 billion of volume that’s still to come, including $25.5 billion of new money. The big early M&A deals, Refinitiv, AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals and Web.com, have indeed set the tone for the market moving forward; investor appetite seems practically endless for all but the most challenging credit stories.

Hot market conditions are readily on display in last week’s flex ratio, which favored issuers by a margin of nine to one. Moreover, launched volume last week remained relatively light, reinforcing the impression of a slowdown in deal flow. Thirteen issuers launched $8.7 billion last week, for net new money of $6 billion. M&A again was the emphasis with $7 billion launching. However, last week’s string of successful executions and tight prints likely means the mix will soon shift back toward opportunistic transactions—including repricings.

Behaving Itself