Private Credit – Good Grapes and Bad Grapes
We were sad to hear of Coca-Cola’s decision last week to discontinue Tab by year end.
Launched in 1963 Tab was a pop culture icon, appearing in Back to the Future and Ghostbusters. But competition from Diet Coke spelled its demise.
It takes superior management to keep brands vital. Remember Scooter Pies, Quisp, or FudgeTown cookies? Without support even popular snacks will fade away.
Private credit, similarly, features a number of participants, but not all created equal. Some have long successful track records. Others, as one friend put it, “are operating without a driver’s license.”
A reporter with one top institutional investor-focused publication asked about our view that 2020 could be the best vintage for private credit in a decade…
▶︎ Read Oct 19 2020 newsletter: here
▶︎ Chart of the Week: here (by Refinitiv LPC)
Latest news
US leveraged loans returns turn negative in October
The Bloomberg US Leveraged Loan Index (Ticker: LOAN) has returned -0.26% this month through October 21, reducing its year-to-date return…
M&A activity begins to tick upward
In the third quarter of 2026, acquisition-linked loan volume across North America and Europe reached about $47 billion, up from $30.6 billion in Q2 and $29.5 billion a year ago.