After Unitranche: How the Middle Market Capital Stack Is Being Pulled Apart from Inside
The numbers tell a story of compression. After peaking at 716 basis points in March 2023, global new-issue direct loan...
Forward for Specialty Finance
The Deployment Gap Widens as Direct Lending Volume Falls to a Two-Year Low
“Strong realized returns on a seasoned book can mask the difficulty of building the next one at comparable quality. The...
Private Credit Writes Investment-Grade Paper: The $36 Billion Chip Lease and the Convergence Trade
“Private credit is not merely growing; it is acquiring the plumbing of the broader capital markets it once positioned itself...
Where the Risk Sits: A Verified Look at Subordinate Debt, Recovery Rates and Intercreditor Dynamics in the Middle Market
The capital stack is not an abstract concept. It is a priority schedule that answers a single question when a...
Factoring’s Quiet Resurgence
The oldest form of commercial finance is having a notably good year. Global factoring turnover surpassed four trillion euros for...
Covenant Defaults and the “Bad PIK” Signal: What Lincoln International’s Senior Debt Index Is Telling Direct Lenders
The debate over private credit stress tends to default, as debates in financial services often do, to the headline number....
Middle Market Debt Weekly: Refinancing Rush Meets Rate Realities
Secured lending opened the week with a structure worth studying. On August 17, Lifetime Brands closed a refinancing that replaced...
Slowing Growth, Rising Stress: What the Middle Market’s Diverging Credit Signals Mean for Lenders and Sponsors
Lincoln International's Private Market Index (LPMI) recorded full-year 2025 EBITDA growth of 4.7% across its middle market portfolio, an improvement...
Banks and Private Credit Managers Are Building an Origination Infrastructure That Neither Could Construct Alone
The story of bank–private credit partnerships did not begin with a single announcement. It began with a regulatory constraint and...
The 200,000-Company Landscape: Where Institutional Capital Still Falls Short in the U.S. Middle Market
The American middle market is frequently invoked by dealmakers but rarely sized with precision. According to the National Center for...
