Кредитование частными фондами в Европе достигло рекордных показателей из-за необходимости рефинансирования

European private credit booms as private equity firms are forced to refinance Lending by European private credit firms hit a record-high in the first half of the year as a subdued dealmaking environment forced private equity firms to pause sale processes and renegotiate their portfolio companies’ debt, new data suggests. The value of direct lending across the continent hit €63.2bn (£54.1bn) in the first six months of the year, driven primarily by a spike in borrowing in the first three months, according to the latest report from analytics platform Debtwire. In the same period last year, the region recorded around €40bn of deals. The early surge was driven partly by private equity firms refinancing their portfolio companies’ debt due to a slowdown in exits, Debtwire said. “The lack of exit prospects, especially for private equity-backed companies, […] is a big reason lenders and sponsors look to push maturities out with a [refinancing],”said Patrick Costello, EMEA private credit analyst at Debtwire. “In general, we can expect to see a lot more refinancings in [the second half of the year] and into next year provided mergers and acquisitions activity does not pick up.” Refinancing activity primarily occurred during the first quarter, as private credit firms lent some €34.8bn, before a slump in the second quarter. Second quarter slump Lending by non-banks has exploded in recent years, as traditional banks have pulled away from issuing loans to higher-risk businesses and borrowers prioritise the speed and flexibility offered by private credit firms. However, the overall value of direct lending in the second quarter of the year dropped 25 per cent year on year to €28.4bn after a drop-off in M&A activity, one of the key drivers of the booming private credit market. Debtwire analysts said this reflected a lull in lending to large firms as they opted to tap public debt markets to secure cheaper deals. “It’s likely many large-cap borrowers opted to raise debt financing on the public markets rather than in the private credit space, where pricing tends to be more expensive,” said Costello. “The pipeline for the second half looks promising with a number of large-cap borrowers gearing up to approach debt markets, although again many… are expected to go down the institutional route.” Bypassing expensive private credit funds has forced private credit firms to rely on smaller mid-market deals, Costello said. “Competition with the public debt markets is less acute in the middle market than the large-cap space, but direct lenders are nonetheless locked in intense competition with each other to win over deals here, especially for highly attractive credits,” he added. Deals drought Deal flow across individual markets also tumbled off the back of large-cap borrowing shrinking in the second quarter. The Nordic states saw the largest decline in deals, falling 23 per cent from the prior year to 30 across the period. France recorded the second largest drop, falling 17 per cent, but deal completion remained high at 91, coming second only to the UK and Ireland which recorded 186 deals. Among direct lenders, investment management titan Ares completed 31 new deals, which account for roughly 7.8 per cent of the market. This was closely followed by Arcmont, which reported 23 deals worth 5.7 per cent of the market share, while Apollo came in third place with 20 deals.