PDF | Research |Week of Aug 1, 2022
Quote of the Week
“ Two-point-seven million people hired in the first half of the year
– it doesn’t make sense that the economy would be in a recession.”
– Jerome Powell, chairperson, Federal Reserve Board.
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The Great Unwind:
A New Era?

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The Great Unwind
(Second of a Series)
News reached us last week of the demise of the Choco Taco. Or not. Cousin to the Klondike Bar, this chocolate-nut-waffle-taco-vanilla-fudge-ice-cream novelty seemed to be yet another victim of supply-chain issues when its manufacturer announced it was being discontinued.

Choco-Taco’s creator chalked it up to the times. “I believe if there had never been Covid and never been the war in Ukraine,” Alan Drazen told the WSJ, “the Choco Taco would be rolling along.” Fans of the triple treat flooded social media demanding its reinstatement. The clamor prompted a “Stay tuned!” tweet from Klondike. Is it gone forever, or coming back?

Clarifying the status of a delicacy was much on our minds as market wags argued whether 2Q’s negative 0.9% – on top of 1Q’s negative 1.6% – constituted a recession...
Chart of the Week
Welcome to the Precession!
Not since 1969 have there been two milder consecutive negative growth quarters.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
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Stat of the Week
Loan Stats at a Glance 
PDI Picks
Pushing aside senior debt
When is senior debt really senior debt? A new report into so-called ‘priming’ brings this into question...
Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis
The healthcare sector led
sponsored MM lending in 1H22
Overall sponsored middle market lending activity (comprised of both direct lending and syndicated volume) was robust again in 2Q22, climbing 42% to US$44bn. The healthcare, business services and technology sectors remained in the top 3 spots...
The Pulse of Private Equity
Healthy deal flow for take-privates
2022 is shaping up for a healthy year for take-privates, according to PitchBook’s latest US PE Breakdown. Almost $60 billion with of transactions closed in H1, which is already past 2020 totals. And there have been relatively few of them, too...
Contact: Alex Lykken / PitchBook
Covenant Trends 
Rolling Tallies of MFN Sunsets
High-Yield Bond Statistics
Weekly fund flows source: Lipper
DL Deals: News & Analysis
Private lending volume posts strong quarter,
but a slowdown lies ahead
Direct Lending Deals’ Private Data set picked up $56.9 billion in sponsored U.S. loan volume during the second quarter, to rebound from a weak first quarter of $20 billion, and beat the $40.4 billion recorded during the private lending binge that drove the final...
Private Debt Intelligence
Growth of mega funds
masks smaller fund activity
In keeping with the growing trend of consolidation within the private debt industry, in Q2 2022 the largest funds continued to attract most of the aggregate capital targeted. Compared to the same time a year earlier (Q2 2021)...
Debtwire Middle-Market
Contact: Hema Oza / Debtwire 
Middle Market Deal Terms at a Glance
Select Deals in the Market
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