THE END OF December is customarily a time when the primary markets are winding down in advance of the holidays. It's when syndicate heads have a chance to get together for a pre-Christmas celebration and look forward to taking some time off work.
There was no such luxury for those working in the US high-yield market at the end of last year. The market tends to get quieter after Thanksgiving but this time the pace of new issues accelerated.
"December is usually a moderate month but it could end up being the busiest of the year," said Mike Meyer, managing director and head of leveraged finance debt capital markets at Bank of America, in mid-December. "The previous high was $15 billion in a month, but we've done well over $10 billion this month, we're doing more deals this week and there are more coming next week right up until Christmas."...
