The broadly syndicated debt market is ripe for Wall Street banks that are regaining their appetite for underwriting mergers and acquisitions, according to Cade Thompson, head of US debt capital markets at KKR & Co.
(Bloomberg) — The broadly syndicated debt market is ripe for Wall Street banks that are regaining their appetite for underwriting mergers and acquisitions, according to Cade Thompson, head of US debt capital markets at KKR & Co.
Thompson spoke to Bloomberg’s Jill Shah in an interview on August 7. Comments have been edited and condensed.
How do you regard the tone in the syndicated market recently and how much conviction do you have in this rally?
There’s been a marked change in tone on the syndicated side. We have several deals that are going to be either in market or announced soon. Those are all syndicated, and as I look over the course of the prior week, we were part of another five that cleared the syndicated markets.
Some of that is B3 rated, some of that is non-fungible, smaller, less liquid tranches. It’s more than what we saw earlier this year. We probably have a higher degree of conviction simply because it looks like the market has appetite for a wider range of opportunities.
There has been a lot of discussion around private credit being the only financing source, syndicated markets being dead, so on and so forth. As a firm, we’ve simply not been a subscriber to that narrative. You need both marketplaces and the competitive tension between them for markets to thrive.
Do you think M&A activity is going to pick up? What does that pipeline look like in the new rates regime?
Banks are super energized to start underwriting syndicated deals. I think you’re starting to see really good action with this stronger tone.
We’re being told that we should expect to see a longer list of more formal auction processes that will come to market post-Labor Day. That’s generally enough time certainly in a sponsor-to-sponsor construct, assuming there are no regulatory issues. You can easily get a number of processes done between September and year-end. So, fingers crossed that happens and it builds a path for 2024.
We’re going to be living in a world of elevated rates for some time so we need to construct these capital structures appropriately, ensuring that coverages are adequate and provide sufficient flexibility.
How are you thinking about the refinancing work ahead?
You’re going to see a significant wave of activity that comes out of these portfolios in the near term, assuming that current market conditions persist. So far in the US, we’ve addressed some names which were “shorter putts.”
On certain transactions, we’ve tapped multiple markets including the secured bond market while simultaneously considering junior capital solutions, and even still have a few stub tranches outstanding. But that paper is starting to rally in the secondary market. So, the expectation is that the market is receptive to addressing these in the near term.
We’ve got a fairly material amount of work to get done in terms of extensions and refinancings. Consistent with other sponsors, you’re going to start to see people address everything that is within the realm of possibility.
It’s not unreasonable to think that you’ll also see more preferred structures: something in between the common and the junior-most portion of the debt capital structure. Anyone who has cash on the balance sheet may pay down some debt to sweeten the pot for investors.
It’s our job to evaluate all financing alternatives available to us and sometimes that’s a hybrid structure, with both a syndicated and private component.
There’s been a noticeable uptick in deals with KKR Capital Markets among the bookrunners. What’s driving that?
There’s a lot of work that needs to get done out of portfolios where it’s been frozen while markets were sluggish. Most of the deals we’re working on right now are for non-KKR sponsors. We find that non-KKR clients value this alignment of interests and experience.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.