The debate continues as to whether today’s financing environment is as good, or better, than in 2007. But we tend to believe that, at least from a liquidity standpoint, conditions are more favorable than they were […]

It’s actually better than 2007!

A lot has been written recently suggesting that the current robust lending environment rivals the one found in 2007. We would suggest, however, that the current climate is […]

A new year is always a good time for reflection and it can be especially prudent to look back and see if there were any trends that transpired during the past year that may affect the coming year. As we start […]

During the last few weeks, three finance companies successfully completed the IPO process to become publicly traded business development companies (BDCs), committed to lending to the middle market. The fundraises […]

Once upon a time, there was a hypothetical private equity firm that purchased a widget manufacturer for $90.0 million.

The company was suffering from some manufacturing inefficiencies at the time and its EBITDA […]

Last month, I wrote in my column about the reluctance of the owners of family and entrepreneurial owned companies to sell their businesses.  

With income tax increases fast approaching, company earnings […]

Attention private equity investors! Have you been wondering why all those family and entrepreneurial owned companies are not eagerly putting their companies up for sale?

It doesn’t make sense. It seems that […]

We’ve all seen the data showing that the first quarter middle market leverage loan volume was much less than everyone expected. 

According to S&P LCD, volume in the first quarter was a mere $2.0 billion, or 59% […]

Over the years, the demise of mezzanine has been predicted countless times. Robust cash flow senior debt markets, prolific BDCs, and private equity groups funding mezzanine themselves have all caused the pundits […]

Once upon a time, it was so simple.

A single institution decided to lend a borrower all the capital they needed. And even though some of the debt was provided in the form of a revolver that could be accessed […]

We’ve recently seen some situations where a private equity firm bought a company several years ago and is now looking to make an add-on acquisition.

Due to the hard work and perseverance of the sponsor and the […]

We’ve seen it before. In fact, every time the financing pendulum swings in one direction or another, the talk starts – “Is mezzanine a dinosaur?”

It happened when CLOs emerged and cash flow senior debt […]

We’ve always been a big proponent of unitranche debt.

With senior cash flow debt still difficult to come by, unitranche facilities have proven to be a very attractive alternative financing technique. We’ve […]

Here we go again – the lenders are out in full force, aggressively marketing to borrowers and eager to deploy capital. It wasn’t that long ago when we dreamed that these days would return and now they are upon […]

It’s only August. We should all be out enjoying the hot summer weather. Yet winter may be coming early this year as we see signs of a freeze upon us.

Of course, I’m not talking about the weather, but […]

For the last 18 months, we’ve been extolling the virtues of unitranche debt. This structure has gained substantial popularity over the last few years as an ideal replacement for the cash flow senior debt that […]

The stock market has seen incredible volatility during the last several months, and, unfortunately, the overall trend has been downward. But does a decrease in equity values affect the valuations of illiquid debt […]