Private equity looks warily at hedge fund debt

Do value-driven debt providers have a role to play in LBO financing? Private-equity borrowers appear increasingly cautious about including hedge funds in leveraged finance syndicates.

“We haven’t seen borrowers excluding hedge funds because of their interest in being a direct lender per se,” says Scott Miller, managing director, European leveraged finance at Citigroup. “We have seen borrowers wanting to establish control over the early stages of syndication, and in particular over commitments rather than funded loans. Their concern is that new investors should be able to honour the commitment to lend in the future.”

Consequently hedge funds have been barred from some deals.

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