Debtwire Radio

Debtwire's Associate Courts Editor Maria Chutchian talks about Thomas Health System seeking Chapter 11 protection which it blames in part on low federal reimbursements among others. Debtwire Head of Municipal Research Greg Clark discusses Chicago and their Sales Tax Securitization Corp. bond issue in a research analysis report. Debtwire reporter Simone Baribeau looks at the US Virgin Islands and the attempt to unlock itself out from the market since 2016. Yong Lim, the Debtwire Municipals desk editor, is the moderator of the podcast. The Muni Lowdown is a weekly podcast recapping the previous week's significant news developments in the municipal bond market For comments or questions contact paul.greaves@acuris.com

For this episode of ABS in Mind, Debtwire ABS hosts Richard Jones, a partner and co-chair of Dechert LLP's global finance and real estate practice group, to provide an update on the CRE and CMBS sectors, including emerging funding structures, election risks and tech disruption.

Debtwire Municipals reporter Kathie O'Donnell talks about the latest on the New Jersey-based American Dream's retail leasing space status and PILOT payments. Debtwire reporter Caitlin Devitt discusses the arduous task that Judge Sam Glasscock has on rendering a penalty on the Preston Hollow/Nuveen landmark court case. Debtwire reporter Eva Llorens details the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s proposed restructuring support agreement. Debtwire reporter Patrick Ferguson brings us up to date on the latest on the ongoing fiasco with privatization efforts at JEA. For comments or questions contact paul.greaves@acuris.com

Russell Chiappetta and Ken Rothenberg, partners at Alston & Bird, discuss the current dynamics around distressed trading documentation in the leveraged loan market, with Debtwire’s Colm (CJ) Doherty. Topics discussed include credit quality, distressed protections, bankruptcy support agreements, transfer restrictions and CDS manufactured defaults. Don't have time to listen to everything? Skip ahead: • Credit quality conditions in the leveraged loan market (1:14-5:04) • Distressed protections / par vs. distressed documentation (5:05-12:39) • Bankruptcy support agreements (12:40-19:33) • Transfer restrictions (19:34-23:26) • CDS manufactured defaults (23:27-25:26)

Debtwire Municipals reporters discuss the top five stories that gained traction with our readers in 2019. Kyle Younker discusses the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) bankruptcy filing, Caitlin Devitt talks about the opioid litigation and the Nuveen/Preston Hollow lawsuit. Eva Llorens gives us the tumultuous year in the Puerto Rico bankruptcy situation, and Kathie O’Donnell focuses on the long-awaited opening of the American Dream retail and entertainment complex in New Jersey. For comments or questions contact paul.greaves@acuris.com

Taking the temperature of direct lending LPs by Debtwire Radio

For Episode 8 of ABS in Mind, Debtwire ABS hosts Mark Fontanilla, founder of the CRTx indexes. In addition, John Mizzi of Bond.One provides an update on the state of blockchain tech utilization in ABS markets. Next, the team outlines trends to watch in subprime auto and marketplace lending ABS in 2020.

Debtwire Municipals reporters Caitlin Devitt and Chuck Stanley discuss the long awaited end to the trial where Preston Hollow Capital filed a lawsuit in February, accusing Nuveen of trying to block it from the market by threatening to withdraw business from any broker-dealer or banker who worked with Preston Hollow. For comments or questions contact paul.greaves@acuris.com

Debtwire Municipals reporter Caitlin Devitt discusses Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) plan to refinance up to USD 1.5bn of general obligation (GO) bonds to help close the FY20 shortfall. Debtwire reporter Simone Baribeau talks about which unprofitable hospitals made up four of the six hospitals under Debtwire Municipals' Hospital Watch. Debtwire reporter Eva Llorens details Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's (PREPA) proposed restructuring support agreement (RSA) that faced a setback when the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau denied a petition to reduce base rates by 1 cent per kilowatt hour so that a settlement charge, required by the RSA, could be instituted. For comments or questions contact paul.greaves@acuris.com

Debtwire Latin America Mangaging Editor Ben Miller and Head of Research Jonathan Szwarc sat down with Carlos Abadi of Decision Boundaries. The veteran financial advisor provided his thoughts on the debt restructuring paths available to Argentina as its new president takes office. He explained that it is in all parties’ interest that Argentina, the IMF and creditors are flexible and co-operate. Argentina needs to convince the IMF to allow for enhancement of how it calculates the debt-sustainability path, in particular, allowing, at the very least, for the variables to be probabilistic rather than deterministic. If this happens, Abadi says it allows for outcomes in which Argentina’s debt is only “unsustainable,” rather than “unsustainable with high probability.” The mere removal of the “with high probability” tag will allow for a restructuring without a principal haircut.

Work has been rather busy at the European Leveraged Finance Association (ELFA) following the recent completion of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investor survey while covenant questionnaire endeavours are also taking place. The trade association consists of European leveraged finance investors and seeks to create a more transparent, efficient and resilient leverage finance market while acting as a voice of its investor community. Sabrina Fox, Executive Advisor at ELFA joined Adam Samoon, Head of High Yield at Debtwire last month to discuss the headway ELFA has been making, the results of the ESG survey, plus other initiatives under development. Its covenant questionnaire has also led to discussions on how to address the impact of IFRS 16 on documentation. Meanwhile the Insights series is continuing, with pieces being worked on that help members to communicate on market issues such as transferability restrictions and net short language provisions for example.

In the second instalment of our podcast into the changing landscape of mid market documentation, the team at law firm Mayer Brown dive deep into the intricacies of what direct lending documentation is evolving into. Mariana Valle, Debtwire Europe's co-deputy editor and head of primary coverage, asks Stuart Brinkworth, partner and European head of leveraged finance; Patrick Teboul, partner in the banking & finance and real estate practices in Paris; and Martin Heuber, a partner in the banking & finance practice in Frankfurt what security packages look like today, transferability language, sub participation trades and how documentation might be tested in a downturn.

Debtwire Municipals reporters Kathie O’Donnell and Chuck Stanley discuss the growing dilemma municipalities faced when confronted with a cyberattack. They also discuss the concern bondholders and analysts have on the credits.

Documentation in the mid market space has assumed a rather large-cap feel, with EBITDA adjustment flexibility, looser covenant features and restricted payment baskets of all sorts now commonplace. But what exactly is filtering down from the syndicated space and what is unique to private lending? The team at law firm Mayer Brown joins Mariana Valle, Debtwire’s co-deputy editor for Europe and head of primary coverage, to answer those questions and many more. We also look at the regional differences between the UK, France and Germany, with Stuart Brinkworth, partner and European head of leveraged finance, Patrick Teboul, partner in the banking & finance and real estate practices in Paris, and Martin Heuber, a partner in the banking & finance practice in Frankfurt. This podcast is brought to you in two episodes.

In this episode we are going to discuss Garrison Capital, a business development company and its financial performance. Specifically, I’m speaking with a stockholder of Garrison who is not satisfied with the company’s performance and I’m looking to discuss what he thinks the firm needs to do to perform better in terms of returns to shareholders.

For Episode 7 of ABS in Mind the Debtwire ABS team hosts Dushyant Shahrawat, director at Rosenblatt Securities' fintech investment banking group to chat about equity investment trends in the online lending and fintech space overall. Next, Perry Rahbar, CEO of dv01 talks about the major trends and outlook for the burgeoning non-QM sector.

Gretchen Bergstresser, Partner and Global Head of Performing Credit at CVC Credit Partners, discusses current trends in the US leveraged loan and CLO markets and looks ahead to 2020 with Colm Doherty, Debtwire Par’s head of primary market analysis. Don't have time to listen to everything? Skip ahead: • Secondary market conditions (1:59-6:08) • Current state of the primary market (6:09-9:41) • Outlook for future loan supply (9:42-10:50) • Documentation/covenants (10:51-12:35) • Loan recoveries (12:36-16:03) • Loan demand (CLOs, SMA’s, retail funds) (16:04-24:45) • Relative value: loans vs. bonds (24:46-28:13) • Market outlook (28:14-29:36)

Pacific Gas & Electric faces a June 2020 deadline to exit bankruptcy. Debtwire Municipals Maria Amante tells us the latest on the investor-owned utility in California. Head of Municipal Research Greg Clark gives us his take on large urban school districts in a research analysis report. JEA and the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia continue their legal battle associated with the Vogtle nuclear project. Debtwire Municipals Patrick Ferguson explains the latest in this legal skirmish.

THL Credit’s Michael Herzig talks manager flexibility during periods of stress, and how to understand investor objectives.

Miami-based reporter Simone Baribeau gives us the latest on what is going in the Puerto Rico court cases. Chicago-based reporter Caitlin Devitt discusses her story on the failed renewable energy project in Glendale, Arizona and the spreads the State of Illinois saw in the secondary market on its general obligation bond sale.