Oaktree BDC Cuts Software Valuations
Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp, a $2.8 bn business development company, wrote down the carrying value of its performing software loans by roughly 3%, pushing its net asset value down about 4% for the period. Management said the adjustment reflects broader market repricing of software credit rather than borrower weakness. Around 26% of the portfolio is flagged for AI‑related risk, prompting a reassessment of exposure. The fund’s investment income fell year‑on‑year, the dividend was cut and the share price slipped, while it trimmed underperformers and seeks higher‑spread opportunities.
KKR Flags Softer Earnings Outlook Despite Strong Q1
KKR reported first‑quarter earnings that beat expectations, driven by a surge in management fees and $28 billion of new capital raised. Fee income rose more than 30%, and asset exits boosted earnings despite mixed fund performance. However, the firm warned that...
Sixth Street BDC Trims Dividend After Quarterly Loss
Sixth Street Capital Partners’ Business Development Company posted a $73 million net loss for the quarter, driven by higher credit write‑downs and softer interest income. In response, the board reduced the quarterly dividend from $0.20 to $0.15 per share, cutting the...
Debtwire Middle-Market – 5/4/2026
AI-driven market shifts have exposed concentration risk in tech‑led direct lending. Over the past three years, technology firms consistently accounted for more than one‑third of all direct‑lending issuance, reaching $127 bn in 2025 out of a total $370 bn. Healthcare lagged far...
Trillium Raises $13 Million for Demonstration Plant for Bio-Based Acrylonitrile
Trillium Renewable Chemicals announced the completion of its $13 million Series B financing, led by HS Hyosung Advanced Materials, to fund Project Falcon—the world’s first demonstration plant for 100 % bio‑based acrylonitrile. The plant, built at Ineos Nitriles’ Green Lake facility, is slated for...
People’s Trust Targets Mid-Guidance Pricing for Debut $100m GWS Re Cat Bond
People’s Trust Insurance Company, a Florida homeowners specialist, is preparing its debut catastrophe bond issuance through Bermuda‑based GWS Re Limited. The $100 million Series 2026‑1 Class A notes will provide three years of fully‑collateralized Florida named‑storm reinsurance with an indemnity trigger. Pricing guidance...
Kent State University to Lay Off up to 45 Staffers
Kent State University announced plans to lay off up to 45 employees, roughly 1% of its 3,400‑person workforce, to address an estimated $18 million shortfall in its fiscal 2027 budget. The school ends the current fiscal year with a $1.5 million surplus...
Comment: SFDR 2.0 Opens the Door to Social Washing. Here’s What to Do
The European Commission’s November 2025 proposal for SFDR 2.0 adds a classification framework to curb greenwashing, but it leaves the social dimension under‑defined, raising the risk of social washing. The draft mistakenly cites the UN Global Compact instead of the UN Guiding...
Covenant Trends – 5/4/2026
Covenant Trends released its latest data set on May 4 2026, highlighting the percentage of syndicated loans that contain most‑favored‑nation (MFN) carve‑outs. The report includes a chart visualizing the trend and offers a downloadable Excel file for deeper analysis. The data, compiled...
European Gas Traders Rush Into Options as Winter Price Risks Mount
European gas traders are rapidly increasing their purchase of options as winter approaches, seeking protection against heightened price volatility. In the past month, volumes of TTF winter call options jumped roughly 45% year‑over‑year, pushing implied volatility to about 30%, the...
How Project Vault Is Being Built: Hotter Commodities
Project Vault, backed by up to $10 billion from the U.S. Export‑Import Bank, creates a privately governed, demand‑aggregation platform for critical‑minerals inventory. By pooling OEM commitments and allowing trading houses to provide financing and logistics, the structure shifts inventory risk off...
Vestas CFO Doesn't Expect Offshore Wind to Be Profitable This Year
Vestas CFO Jakob Wegge‑Larsen told Recharge that the company’s offshore wind segment will not achieve profitability in 2024. The shortfall stems from elevated manufacturing costs as the firm ramps up turbine production. Despite robust market demand, cost pressures and lingering...
21shares Launches Strategy Yield ETN: STRC
21shares has launched the Strategy Yield ETN (ticker STRC) on the London Stock Exchange, offering a fee‑free, 11.5% annual yield linked to Strategy Inc.’s bitcoin‑backed perpetual preferred security. The ETN provides monthly, variable cash distributions with a floor tied to short‑term...
HEQ: Likely To Underperform Over A Long Holding Period
John Hancock Diversified Income Fund (HEQ) retains a Hold rating as its structure depends on net realized gains for distributions and NAV growth. The fund yields 8.6% but a lower payout could stabilize NAV and cut risk from uneven gains....
CFOs Urged to Embed Sustainability in Finance
A new industry report urges fashion sector CFOs to embed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into core financial processes. It recommends integrating ESG metrics into budgeting, tying executive compensation to sustainability performance, and adopting standardized reporting frameworks such as...
Why Exiting the FATF Grey List Is Just the Start to South Africa's Recovery
South Africa's removal from the Financial Action Task Force grey list marks a pivotal step toward restoring its reputation in global finance. The delisting reflects progress in anti‑money‑laundering oversight, law enforcement and transparency, reducing transaction friction and due‑diligence costs for...
AEP Q1 2026 GAAP Earnings Rise 9% to $874m
American Electric Power reported Q1 2026 GAAP earnings of $874 million, up 9.3% year‑over‑year, while revenue climbed 10.2% to $6.02 billion. Segment earnings surged, with vertically integrated utilities and transmission & distribution units posting over 40% growth, offset by an 11% dip at...
Doctolib Plans for £100m UK Investment Into Digital Primary Care Acquiring Medicus
Doctolib announced a £100 million (≈$125 million) investment to acquire UK digital‑health firm Medicus, creating a 150‑person R&D centre in London. The partnership will combine Medicus’s NHS primary‑care expertise with Doctolib’s AI platform, which already serves over 40,000 European GPs. The move...
Telecel Zimbabwe Needs $50 Million or It’s Gone
Telecel Zimbabwe, once a major operator, has entered a corporate rescue and needs roughly $50 million in fresh capital to avoid liquidation, while carrying about $240 million in debt and only 300,000 active subscribers. The company’s network of over 1,000 base stations...
Euronext Publishes Its 2025 Universal Registration Document
Euronext Securities has opened a Q2 2026 testing window for its European Central Securities Depository (CSD) expansion, targeting a September 2026 go‑live that will offer a unified equities and ETF settlement service in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The testing environment lets...
The Mid-Week Roundup: Margin Pivot and the May Deadline
UK accounting firms are feeling a talent surge as senior partners leave the Big Four for mid‑market boutiques, while the Financial Reporting Council has tightened audit standards on fraud and going‑concern assessments. At the same time, AI‑driven platforms such as...
SP Group’s Goswami Infratech Receives Debt Downgrade Ahead of $3 Billion Refinancing
CareEdge downgraded Goswami Infratech, a Shapoorji Pallonji unit, to B+ from BB‑ after the firm missed its original $2.8‑$3.1 billion refinancing timetable. The delay stems from rising rupee‑hedging costs and a shift to a mixed dollar‑rupee bond issuance slated for before the...
The End of the Yellen-Era Debt Playbook?
U.S. Treasury is moving away from Janet Yellen's short‑term bill‑heavy issuance strategy as new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent prepares to confront a $10 trillion debt wall in 2026. Bessent’s “3‑3‑3” plan targets 3 % GDP growth, a 3 %‑of‑GDP deficit by 2028, and...
FSB Warns on Private Credit Vulnerabilities
The Financial Stability Board released a report flagging systemic vulnerabilities in the fast‑growing private‑credit market, which now holds roughly $1.5‑2.0 trillion in assets. It estimates direct bank credit‑line exposure at $220 billion, with broader estimates up to $500 billion, and highlights opaque valuation...
Report on Vulnerabilities in Private Credit
The Financial Stability Board’s May 6 2026 report estimates the global private‑credit market at $1.5‑$2 trillion, noting rapid expansion beyond medium‑sized firms. It highlights that asset managers, banks, insurers, pension funds and private‑equity firms are increasingly interlinked, creating new channels for risk transmission....
Once Trying to Sell His Stake in Vodafone Idea, Birla Returns as Chairman
Kumar Mangalam Birla, who in 2021 signaled a willingness to sell his 27% stake in Vodafone Idea, has re‑entered the company as its non‑executive chairman, replacing former CEO Ravinder Takkar. The board approved the change on May 5, 2026, and Takkar will...
Forvis Mazars UK CEO: We Have What Others Are Trying to Buy
UK CEO James Gilbey says Forvis Mazars’ globally integrated partnership, built by merging French Mazars and US Forvis, gives it a competitive edge that rivals are now trying to acquire through mergers. The firm can pool profits and capital across...
MAS Markets Hires Rostro Exec Saul Knapp as CRO
MAS Markets, the FCA‑regulated multi‑asset liquidity provider, announced the appointment of Saul Knapp as Chief Risk Officer. Knapp, who spent four years at Rostro Group as COO and CRO and led its Futures and Options division, will oversee enterprise risk management...
Octus: Private Credit & Deal Origination Insights – 5/4/2026
Octus’s cross‑BDC analysis reveals that U.S. private‑credit BDCs have 73 basis points of additional nonaccrual exposure at cost, pushing the adjusted nonaccrual rate to 2.18% versus the reported 1.45%. The total nonaccrual balance rose from roughly $7.2 billion to $10.5 billion, raising...
Avalo Therapeutics Announces Pricing of $375 Million Public Offering
Avalo Therapeutics announced the pricing of a $375 million underwritten public offering, selling 19.73 million shares at $17.75 each and 1.4 million pre‑funded warrants at $17.749. The company granted underwriters a 30‑day option to purchase up to an additional 3.17 million shares on the...
Middle Market & Private Credit – 5/4/2026
U.S. banks broadened private‑credit disclosures in the first quarter of 2026, adding detail on business development companies, collateralized loan obligations and other direct‑lending vehicles. Fitch Ratings highlighted that the new information improves transparency but still diverges from regulatory call‑report data....
Moody’s Upgrades HDBank’s Outlook to "Positive," Paving the Way for Potential Credit Rating Upgrade
Moody’s Ratings kept HDBank’s long‑term B1 rating but changed its outlook from Stable to Positive, citing a solid financial base and a planned equity boost. The bank aims to raise capital from $3 bn to $4.2 bn, a 41% increase, to reinforce...
Seven Ways Banks Break Their Own Compliance Software
Anandhan Kannan outlines seven common pitfalls that cause banks to undermine their own compliance software, from merely digitizing paper processes to storing policies in static documents. He shows how these missteps lead to continued manual work, fragmented systems, low user...
Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis – 5/4/2026
US collateralized loan obligation (CLO) issuance fell sharply to $6.2 bn in April, the lowest level since December 2023. The market contracted from $18.1 bn raised across 38 deals in March to just 14 deals in April. The drop reflects tighter credit conditions,...
Nabard Projects ₹5.11 Lakh Crore Credit Plan for Andhra Pradesh in 2026–27
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has outlined a $61.6 billion credit plan for Andhra Pradesh in FY 2026‑27, a 20% rise from the prior year’s $51.0 billion allocation. Of the total, $30.7 billion is earmarked for agriculture, including $20 billion for...
ElevenLabs Adds High-Profile Investors After Annualized Revenue Tops $500M
ElevenLabs announced a new funding round that brought in dozens of high‑profile investors, including Nvidia NVentures, BlackRock and entertainment figures like Jamie Foxx. The company’s Series D extension follows a $500 million raise that valued the AI voice startup at $11 billion. ElevenLabs reported...
Sun Pharma Explores Funding Mix for $12 Billion Organon Deal
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is weighing a mix of financing tools for its proposed $12 billion acquisition of New York‑listed Organon & Co. The Indian drugmaker may ask Organon bondholders to exchange their securities for Sun Pharma debt, while also exploring a euro‑denominated bond that...
Finance of America Returns Back to Profit in First Quarter
Finance of America (FOA) reported a $35 million net profit for Q1 2026, reversing a $21 million loss in Q4 and falling short of last year’s $80 million gain. Adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.10, well above the $0.84 consensus, driven by...
Aspire Prepares to Sell $450.6 Million in ABS
Aspire Sponsor and CCS Structured Credit Investment Fund is preparing a $450 million residential mortgage‑backed securities (RMBS) issuance, SPIRE 2026‑2, backed largely by non‑prime mortgages. The pool of 829 loans averages $543,604 with a 69.4% loan‑to‑value and only 9.2% of balances are...
Amcor PLC (AMCR) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Amcor reported first‑quarter 2026 results showing adjusted EPS of $0.193, an 18% constant‑currency increase and above the midpoint of its guidance. The company delivered $38 million in quarterly synergies and over $70 million of annualized revenue synergies following the Berry acquisition, while...
Rand Capital Corp (RAND) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Rand Capital Corp closed 2025 with over $23 million of liquidity and zero debt, positioning the BDC for flexible capital deployment. NAV per share stood at $17.57 after a sizable loss from Tilson Technology’s Chapter 11 filing, while the portfolio’s fair...
Criteo SA (CRTO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Criteo reported record Q1 2024 results, generating $450 million in revenue and $71 million adjusted EBITDA, an 83% year‑over‑year increase. Retail Media revenue reached $51 million, growing contribution by 34%, while Performance Media delivered $399 million in revenue with a 13% contribution rise. The...
Perrigo Company PLC (PRGO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Perrigo reported a 2% rise in All‑In operating income and a 7% increase in EPS to $2.75 for 2025, matching its revised guidance. CORE Perrigo delivered stronger results, with operating income up 7% and EPS climbing 14% to $2.52. The...
Kraft Heinz Co (KHC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Kraft Heinz’s Q1 2026 call highlighted a portfolio reshuffle, moving Frozen to "Hold," Hydration to "Win Big," and Cheese to "Win" as margin outlooks evolve. The company guided Q2 revenue down 3%‑5%, citing an Easter timing shift and a 100‑basis‑point SNAP...
Marriott International Inc (MAR) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Marriott International reaffirmed its aggressive organic growth strategy, reporting a record 610,000‑room development pipeline with 265,000 rooms under construction and a 75% conversion efficiency that fuels fee revenue. Global RevPAR rose 2% in 2025, and the company projects 1.5‑2.5% growth...
Alpha Teknova Inc (TKNO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Alpha Teknova reported Q1 2026 revenue of $10.5 million, a 9% year‑over‑year increase driven primarily by 16% growth in its Lab Essentials line. Clinical Solutions revenue fell 13% amid weak biopharma funding, but gross profit surged to $3.2 million, lifting gross margin...
Bruker Corp (BRKR) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Bruker Corp reported fourth‑quarter 2025 revenue of $977.2 million, essentially flat year‑over‑year, with a 5.1% organic decline across its Scientific Instruments and BEST segments. The company posted a non‑GAAP operating margin of 15.7% and record free cash flow of $207 million, aided...
Astec Industries Inc (ASTE) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Astec Industries reported record Q4 net sales of $400.6 million and an 8.1% full‑year sales increase, driven by organic growth and the recent TerraSource and CWMF acquisitions. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $44.7 million for the quarter and $140.7 million for the year, lifting...
Flowco Holdings Inc (FLOC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Flowco Holdings reported fourth‑quarter 2025 adjusted EBITDA of $83.5 million, up $6.7 million sequentially and 11% year‑over‑year, on revenue of $197 million. Rental revenue topped $110 million for the first time, driving a 42.4% adjusted EBITDA margin and generating $63 million of free cash flow...
Moody?s Raises Vietnam Outlook to Positive on Reform Gains- #CapitalMarkets #Finance #Treasury #Finance
Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Vietnam’s sovereign outlook to positive while affirming its Ba2 rating. The agency cited accelerating institutional reforms—such as ministry mergers and streamlined regulations—that are expected to improve credit quality. Vietnam posted 7.0% GDP growth in 2024 and...