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ARTICLE · 29 JANUARY 2021

U.S. Financing Markets Winter 2021 Update

Ropes & Gray LLP
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Positive sentiment driven by the announcement of COVID-19 vaccine approvals buoyed the institutional markets in late 2020

United StatesFinance and Banking
Ropes & Gray LLP'S Leveraged Finance Practice
Ropes & Gray LLP'S Leveraged Finance Practice
Ropes & Gray LLP'S Private Equity Practice
Ropes & Gray LLP'S Private Equity Practice
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1. U.S. Financing Markets – Forward Momentum

  • Positive sentiment driven by the announcement of COVID-19 vaccine approvals buoyed the institutional markets in late 2020
  • After pausing in early November for the US elections, activity resumed and has continued at a brisk pace into the first weeks of 2021, with repricings increasingly common as demand remains elevated (in some cases, despite the applicability of 1% soft call premiums)
  • The high yield (HY) market remained red-hot and hit an annual volume record of $435B for 2020; as a marker of steady investor demand, January 19, 2021 recorded the highest single day volume ($9B) since 2014
  • The institutional loan markets in Q4 maintained the elevated primary levels first seen in Q3, with supply increasingly driven by the recent uptick in M&A activity, and prices in the secondary have rallied in January to return to approximately pre-COVID levels; nevertheless, annual volume ($288B) in 2020 was down 7% from 2019,

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