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Private Credit Defaults 101: Beyond the Noise
Like any good school year, this series went by fast. But as class comes to an end, there’s one theme that’s been top of mind here at The Lead: “noise.”
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October 6, 2026 
PE middle-market TVPI and DPI by fund vintage
Going forward, we expect that returns will be driven by disciplined buying and operational value creation, rather than…
US LBO loan volume reached nearly US$90B in 1H26; direct lending held 43% share
US lenders completed a combined US$34bn of syndicated (US$16.94bn) and direct lending (US$$16.6bn) loan volume backing leveraged buyout activity ub…
Private credit hits the target
Our latest fundraising data shows funds are now much less likely to fall short of their capital-raising aspirations. The most…
Q2 European direct lending activity up 9%
Despite the geopolitical and macroeconomic events of the first half of the year creating a volatile environment, the European private credit market continues to demonstrate robust resilience.
Share of PE middle-market fund count by size bucket
LPs facing constrained distributions are concentrating commitments with a shorter list of established, brand-name managers…
The Lead Left rebrands as The Lead, expanding into a multi-format platform for private capital intelligence
New York, July 16, 2026 – The Lead Left, the private capital thought leadership platform founded by Randy Schwimmer in 2008, today announced its rebrand as The Lead…
US Leveraged Loans return 1.88% to investors YTD
The Bloomberg US Leveraged Loan Index (Ticker: LOAN) has returned 0.57% to investors this month through July 15, bringing the…
Middle market loan issuance weakened in 2Q26 as sponsored activity slowed
US middle market loan issuance weakened in 2Q26 as sponsor-backed acquisition activity slowed amid muted LBO volumes and a smaller…
From Lead Left to The Lead: Randy Schwimmer on private credit's Platinum Era
A special edition – Bloomberg Radio’s Paul Sweeney turns the tables on Randy Schwimmer to celebrate the relaunch of The Lead Left as The Lead.
Direct lending holds firm as sponsor-backed LBOs dominate 1Q26
Despite negative headlines around private credit at the start of 2026, including panic redemption requests from retail investors, direct lending…
Elevated redemptions at Non-Traded BDCs persist
Average redemption requests continued to rise for perpetually non-traded business development companies (BDCs) in 2Q26, but levels and trends varied across the sector.
Senior debt and North America lead the way
We dig deeper into Private Debt Investor fundraising data from the first half of this year.
Well Prompted
The best managers know which prompts to write, and which answers to act on. Source: FTI Consulting
Business of Private Credit: Rain or Shine
Experienced private credit managers build all-weather playbooks designed to make it through any business cycle or headline risk.
Business of Private Credit: Claude Says
Even chatbots know AI won’t have a one-size-fits-all impact on the middle market. Yet for the last year or so, the market has treated AI disruption as a storm cloud hanging over every private credit portfolio.