Ever pulled an all-nighter to prepare a pitch, or had your weekend ruined by a last-minute fire drill from your MD? Imagine if artificial intelligence could crunch the numbers and format the slidedeck for you. What would you do with the extra free time?But also, what valuable, formative experiences might you miss out on if you could outsource rote tasks to technology? And how might that change the culture of your institution?Everyone’s talking about AI, and how it could revolutionize basically everything. We wanted to figure out what it might mean — both good and bad — for the debt markets, so 9fin reporters William Hoffman and Shubham Saharan hit the phones for some philosophical conversations.In this week’s episode of the podcast, we’re asking: is AI coming for your finance job?

This episode discusses Lycra's unique variant of the drop-down mechanism and its last-minute refinancing of its 2023 notes. The podcast explores how Lycra used intellectual property to create a new SPV and pledged assets outside the restricted group as collateral. It also analyzes the impact of the new transaction on existing bondholders and their capacity to make restricted payments or secure debt.

The podcast explores Focus Financial's unique loan deal that allowed them to fund an acquisition without refinancing existing debt, discussing the implications of the wording of the credit agreement. They also delve into CD&R's strategy of majority equity ownership without board control, the complexities in sponsor and board dynamics, potential legal action for lenders due to change of control, and the maneuver's implications for future situations.

The 9fin team explores the influence of Benteler’s debut bond deal with Josh Latham. Josie Shillito guides us through the growing trend of private take-privates and Jennifer Munnings discusses the recent clarifications from the European Commission on the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

These days, private credit is becoming so popular that you could be forgiven for thinking it was a recent invention.But some people were doing private credit before it was cool. Tim Lyne is one of those people — when he and a group of colleagues founded Antares Capital back in the nineties, the idea of a jumbo unitranche must have seemed like a pipe dream.For this week’s episode of the Cloud 9fin podcast, our private credit editor David Brooke sat down with Tim to discuss the growth of the market, how managers are preparing for the credit cycle to turn, and where the biggest risks are right now.

9fin sits down with Ben Thompson, JP Morgan's Head of EMEA Leveraged Finance Debt Capital Markets on 24 April 2023. He gives us his insights into how the traditional debt capital markets soldiers on despite the recent banking crisis and what he sees coming in the pipeline in 2023. 

The 9fin team takes a look into Adler’s restructuring in the UK High Court with Chris Haffenden. Brian Dearing takes us through a report on 2022 covenant trends and Jennifer Munnings and Dan Power discuss insights into our ESG data and what they indicate for LevFin.

Convertible bonds, a hybrid debt-equity investment, are making a comeback. They offer attractive financing for tech companies. Rising interest rates impact the growth stock market. Convertible debt affects credit profiles and some companies buy back discounted securities. Regular corporate convertibles are preferred over bank convertibles for their features. The hosts express gratitude to the guest for their insights.

Andy Hagan, Tom Richards, and Gilles Teerlinck from Weil, Gotshal & Manges discuss liability management in today's credit markets. They cover confronting volatility, equity injections, and executing amend-and-extends when CLOs are out of reinvestment. Other topics include refinancing debts, loan consent techniques, and the push and pull dynamics of liability management in 2021.

Unlike liquid leveraged loans, private debt is not frequently traded (although there are signs that this might be changing) and thus can be hard to value.But the funds that hold those private loans still have to find a way to value their books. How do they make their marks?In this episode of our Cloud 9fin podcast, deputy editor Bill Weisbrod sits down with Brian Garfield, a managing director in Lincoln International’s valuations and opinions practice, who helps private credit funds value their holdings in illiquid debt instruments.What’s the process for valuing an illiquid private loan? How are rising rates impacting private credit borrowers? And what does the rest of the year hold for asset performance?