Debtwired!

In this episode, Claire Matheson Kirton, a partner at White & Case, joins Debtwire CEEMEA’s Laura Gardner to explore the rise in investment from the Middle East into Africa. With China stepping back as a major financier across the continent, Gulf economies are jumping in to meet Africa's vast infrastructure and energy needs. GCC investors are seizing diversification opportunities in sectors such as renewable energy, real estate, telecoms, and agriculture in a region experiencing rapid urbanisation and real economic growth needs, Claire explains. She also delves into whether this growing partnership could spur the rise of Islamic finance across Africa. Based in Dubai, Claire is a partner in White & Case’s Global Debt Finance Practice and has extensive experience in both conventional and Sharia-compliant transactions. #GCC #Africa #projectfinance #infrastructure #renewableenergy #islamicfinance

The podcast’s guest, Brian Himot, will also discuss the latest trends in private credit and opportunistic lending and several deals that SVP closed recently.

On this episode, we speak with Maples Group’s Kat Burke about the Irish restructuring toolkit and in particular, its potential as an implementation route for global workouts. Kat is Of Counsel in the Dispute Resolution & Insolvency team at Maples Group, Dublin. She is an Irish, English, US and BVI qualified corporate restructuring lawyer and has experience in key restructuring jurisdictions including New York and London.

On this episode of the Debtwired! podcast, Till Schweizer, Managing Director at Partners Group, joins Debtwire Europe’s Jelena Cvejic to discuss the current demand and supply dynamics in the leveraged loan market, and CLO positioning in light of a generally strong market and an increasing number of underperforming credits. Till Schweizer has been with Partners Group since 2007 and has 18 years of industry experience. He is part of the Liquid Loans business unit, based in London, and a member of the Global Liquid Loans Investment Committee and Structured Credit Investment Committee. Schweizer reflects on the growing strength of the leveraged loan market and gives his outlook on upcoming loan supply and the revival of M&A activity. He then takes us through the evolving CLO landscape and shares his views on new CLO issuance, refinancing, resets, and liquidations. As we touch upon the effect of higher-for-longer interest rates on the sustainability of capital structures, Schweizer talks about positioning CLOs amid an increasing number of underperforming credits. He highlights the relevance of loan documentation features such as basket capacities and the ability to change governing law in cross-border transactions, given a recent increase in liability management exercises in the US. #leveragedfinance #leveragedloans #CLOs

DLA Piper’s David Manson unpacks the key lessons from Germany-focused real estate business Aggregate Holdings’ contested restructuring plan process before the English High Court in an interview with Debtwire Europe’s Hossein Dabiri.

On the latest episode of the Debtwired! Podcast, Hannah Gates answers a range of questions on how private credit and bank lending markets are converging in new and unforeseen ways with Debtwire Europe’s Johannes Koch. Hannah specialises in lender-side domestic and cross-border leveraged finance transactions across the credit spectrum. Her practice covers acquisition and event-driven finance, and other structured finance transactions, across a wide range of capital structures. Her extensive experience of private credit transactions makes her ideally placed to advise clients on transactions where potential financing options require knowledge of both the syndicated and private debt markets. #privatecredit #banklending #leveragedbuyouts #debtwired #podcast

On the Debtwired! Podcast, Carson Block, CEO of Muddy Waters, joins Debtwire Europe’s Head of High Yield Adam Samoon to discuss short selling trades in credit. Muddy Waters has exposed accounting issues and fraud at many global companies. This podcast examines what operational characteristics provide fundamentals for good short trades and monitors examples of trades that have been implemented. A number of bonds in the European real estate sector have had large price drops in recent years. Real estate risks are considered alongside current short trade ideas across other geographies and sectors. Lastly, the podcast explores if short selling has become harder to implement due to the new paradigm of reduced secondary liquidity and CDS orphanage event risks.

In this episode, we speak with Freshfields’ Craig Montgomery and Lindsay Hingston about Adler’s landmark restructuring plan, considering some of the key takeaways for future UK restructuring plans. German real estate group Adler’s UK restructuring plan secured its place in legal history recently as the English Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by a group of dissenting noteholders, overturning the High Court’s April 2023 decision to sanction the plan. This is the first time the UK’s restructuring plan tool – which came into force in 2020 – has been considered by the appellate court. #restructuring #restructuringplan #part26A #insolvency #Adler #germany #distresseddebt #bondworkout #CIGA2020 #germanrealestate #courtofappeal #lordjusticesnowden #part26arestructuringplan #litigation #disputeresolution

In this episode, we speak with Simmons and Simmons’ Christopher Kranz and Simon Kirschner, about the German StaRUG procedure, with a focus on the innovative Softline restructuring. The German Act on the Stabilisation and Restructuring Framework for Businesses (StaRUG) came into force on 1 January 2021, implementing the EU Restructuring Directive – which obliges all EU member states to establish preventive restructuring frameworks – into German law. Last year, the StaRUG procedure experienced a number of “firsts”, with high profile cases including Leoni and Gerry Weber. One particularly innovative case was that of listed IT company Softline. Our speakers acted for the majority shareholder Noventiq, which took over the entire equity under the StaRUG. #restructuring #germany #preventiverestructuringframeworks #staRUG #softline #insolvency #eurestructuringdirective #distresseddebt #germanlaw

Dominik Spanier, MD at Lincoln International, joins Debtwire’s Johannes Koch to look at the year ahead for private debt in the German-speaking region and scour the market for challenges and opportunities for debt advisors. #privatedebt #Europe #Germany #LincolnInternational #debtadvisor

Florian Kluge, MD and COO Investor Relations at Ardian, joins Debtwire’s Johannes Koch to talk about how the fundraising market is developing and explore whether private debt has reached its peak. Florian Kluge joined Ardian in 2017. As managing director he is engaged in the firm’s fundraising efforts and closely involved in the firm’s relationships with investors in Germany, Austria and the UK. Florian takes us through which asset classes are getting tougher to raise money for and highlights LPs current pain points and return expectations. Finally we hone in on the private debt class and explore whether fundraising for the asset class has reached its peak.

Lee Buchheit, Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh Law School, talks about the use of value recovery instruments to resolve sovereign debt workouts with Debtwire's Laura Gardner. Lee takes us back to the origins of these tools, which were first used as part of the 1990s Brady-era debt restructurings. While in principle used to sweeten the deal for bondholders agreeing to significant upfront debt relief, Lee argues that they face a number of difficulties, both from the debtor and creditor perspective. Lee then looks at recent cases in Suriname, Zambia, and Sri Lanka to see how they have incorporated new elements into their value recovery instruments. #sovereigndebt #zambia #suriname #srilanka #ghana #restructuring

On the Debtwired! Podcast, Goldman Sachs Head of EMEA Leveraged Finance Dominic Ashcroft joins Debtwire Europe’s Head of High Yield Adam Samoon to discuss the outlook for the European LevFin market. LevFin volumes have staged a comeback this year though issuance still remains below recent historical levels. This podcast explores the future for leveraged finance issuance and whether the year-to-date rebound in volumes can be sustained. European Leveraged Finance is now a diversified asset class with high yield bonds, leveraged loans and private credit all offering alternative sources of funding for issuers. Private credit deals have increased strongly in recent years but there are also still some green shoots in syndicated markets. The recent backdrop for primary markets is tough with concerns over high interest rates and geo-political headline risks. But companies can adapt issuance tactics in response to the challenging macroeconomic environment.

Lazard Managing Director Pierre Cailleteau joins Debtwire's Laura Gardner on the podcast to discuss domestic debt restructuring as part of sovereign debt negotiations. Pierre explains the difficulties a government is presented with when it chooses to restructure its domestic debt, the risks it can bring to its economy and why these exercises must be carefully calibrated. He also goes through three case studies where governments have chosen different paths - Ghana, Sri Lanka and Zambia - and explains their decision-making with regards to domestic debt restructuring. Pierre discusses the issue of comparability of treatment among different creditor classes and the importance of assessing a creditor group's capacity to absorb losses. Finally, Pierre talks about the risk of holdouts in a domestic debt restructuring and how these can be tackled. #sovereign #debt #restructuring #ghana #zambia #srilanka

Debtwire's Jou Yu speaks with Sam Whittaker, Co-Head of Lazard’s Europe Restructuring & Liability Management Group, and his colleague Tom Howard, Co-Head of European Debt Advisory. They talk about a number of wide-ranging topics on debt restructuring and distressed debt in Europe, from the evolving role of the financial advisor, to how documentation is affecting restructuring negotiations, and the way private credit is impacting the fixed income landscape. #distresseddebt #restructuring #privatecredit #debtadvisory #documentation

Debtwire's Dan Anghelache speaks to Charlie Robertson, Head of Macro Strategy at FIM Partners, about the recent pressure on African sovereigns, especially in light of the slew of recent military coups in the region. Charlie considers the impact of elevated fertility rates in the region on sovereign default risk and whether this risk has been priced in by credit and equity markets. In particular, he examines whether there is a negative sentiment weighing on Eurobond-issuing West African sovereigns due to recent events. #EM #sovereign #debt #distressed

Debtwire's Alex Dooler sits down with Ahmad Alanani, co-founder and CEO of Sancta Capital, to discuss the rise of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the Middle East. Following a landmark USD 1.1bn NPL transaction from ADCB earlier in the year, investors have been paying close attention to the emerging asset class. Despite the headlines, the market for NPLs still has some way to go and is bound by a host of factors that are discussed in this episode. #NPLs #emergingmarkets #distresseddebt

Debtwire’s Laura Gardner speaks with Richard Cooper and Jim Ho, partners at Cleary Gottlieb, about new legislation being considered by the state of New York, and what it means for sovereign debt restructurings. Richard explains that the changes are made up of three separate bills, which seek to create a comprehensive mechanism to restructure sovereign debt, expand the champerty defense and limit creditor recoveries. He highlights how some of these proposals lack clarity, could lead to jurisdiction migration and risk making borrowing more expensive for sovereigns. Jim explains how the UK has sought to deal with the issues from an English law perspective, where similar proposals have so far been rejected by the government. They both agree that more should be done to incentivise official and private sector to invest to try and solve sovereign debt challenges. #sovereign #debt #restructuring

Debtwire's Laura Gardner speaks to Yvette Babb, emerging market debt portfolio manager at William Blair, about the risks facing sovereigns with upcoming debt maturities in a challenging funding environment. Yvette discusses the recent bright spots coming out of Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Tunisia, and explains why there is growing optimism that a systemic debt crisis can be avoided. She also delves into some of the options available to countries beyond Eurobond markets, including loans, multilateral guarantees, and debt-for-nature swaps. Yvette Babb is a hard and local currency portfolio manager on William Blair’s emerging markets debt team. She is also a member of the ESG leadership team for William Blair Investment Management. #emergingmarkets #sovereign #debt #distressed #restructuring

On the latest episode of Debtwire North America’s Debtwired!! series, Co-managing editor Reshmi Basu speaks with David Turetsky of White & Case. On this podcast, David hits on several hot-button topics impacting the restructuring universe, from lender-on-lender tension and rescue financing to the cryptocurrency collapse. David is a partner in the financial restructuring and insolvency practice at White & Case. He represents companies and other parties in complex business reorganizations, out-of-court restructurings and workouts, debt restructurings, and insolvency matters. He has worked on a number of high-profile restructurings, including most recently, Hertz and Celsius. #restructuring #crypto #distressed