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Surprising BDC COMMON STOCKS

On May 1st, the BDC sector – as measured by BDCS – dropped to $19.54. That was sharply off the $19.87 at the end of the prior week on Friday April 26, 2019.

LBOs at API Technologies, GlobalTranz to take out debt held by BCSF, PFLT, Audax, BBDC, PSEC

Loan market conditions continued to strengthen last week amid a paucity of new-issue activity ahead of the week’s early close. Both the bond and loan markets were seasonably slow, with a total of $2.6 billion from five bond deals and $2.1 billion of loans launched via seven issuers. Time-sensitive M&A situations accounted for nearly all of the week’s new deal flow in loans.

Medley Merger: The week of the three-way Medley Group vote has arrived. On Friday April 19, 2019 the ballots at Medley Capital (MCC); Sierra Income (SIC) and Medley Management (MDLY) will be counted and we’ll know if the three will become one under a newly public SIC banner. Or will we ? The chances of yet another postponement of the vote are high. Although the BDC Reporter noted – just last week – that the SBA has caused MCC to promise to redeem all its $135mn in subordinated debentures in short order, no official word has come to investors by dint of an update of the Proxy. Nor have the disclosures required by the Delaware Chancery Court following a lawsuit regarding this vote been made by the Medley defendants. Nor have shareholders been officially updated on the multiple offers made by third parties in recent weeks and the Board’s reaction to them. Speaking of the Board, MCC has lost two of its “independent” directors. Can a BDC even function – legally speaking – with those positions still unfilled ? We don’t know the answer but we may be about to find out.

Medley Merger: The next scheduled vote on the merger of the three Medley Group entities into a public BDC fronted by Sierra Income, which will go from non-traded to public company, is another week away. Nonetheless, we’ll be looking out for developments during this penultimate week. There are still a number of outstanding items for which some resolution is required. Will Medley Capital (MCC) be following the instructions of the Delaware Chancery Court and providing an updated Proxy with a fuller account of how the merger was conceived ? Or has MCC – as indicated in when the judge’s opinion was first published – decided to appeal ? Or ignore ? Also, we wonder what the status is of the proposed transfer of the MCC SBA licenses to Sierra Income. Has the SBA – in charge of such things – decided to give the go ahead, or not ? That’s a major item. Also, the initial deadline for the merger is past. How will an extension be handled ? Also, what’s happening about replacing the “independent” directors and meeting stock exchange rules for corporate governance ? (We’ve written multiple feature articles about these and a multitude of other aspects of this subject. Just type “Medley” into the Search box at the top of the website and see what we mean !)

LBO to take out Wrench Group debt held by Crescent; BDVC's holdings include Hexion’s prepetition notes

Investor demand for large transactions such as Ultimate Software and Staples underscored a palpable shift in loan market tone last week as accounts scrambled to commit to the relatively few deals in syndication. A few stragglers aside, numerous deals have accelerated, upsized or flexed lower in recent days, for a lopsided downward-to-upward flex ratio of 7:3. Bonds, meanwhile, plowed forward with oversubscribed new issuance, steady retail cash inflows, and an upside grind in more active trading.