With high-grade issuance still subdued, the past 12 months in the corporate markets have been all about high yield. Issuance in Europe has doubled this year and high yield has been the talk of the year in the region much as it has been in the US. According to S&P LCD leveraged loan volume soared 205% in 2010 – the biggest year-on-year increase on record – to $234 billion and institutional volume totalled $159 billion – up 312% from 2009’s eight-year low of $39 billion. This year looks set to break even those records. Recent deals have shown a broadening of the investor base in Europe, with private banks, wealth funds and CLOs all piling in to the asset class. "We are always surprised by the demand for high-yield products," says Jean Marc Mercier, managing director and global head of debt syndicate at HSBC. "The market is driven on both...
