The Italian Investment Conference took place from 17 - 19 May 2022 and is one of the largest platforms to access the equity and debt capital markets in Italy for the Italian Capital Market, with over 450 institutional investors and around 90 corporates attending and meeting in One-on-One/small Group Meetings for an extensive dialogue.
We were very pleased to have hosted a very lively "Non-Investment Grade Capital Markets Roundtable" during the Debt Capital Markets stream of the event, where international investors and issuers discussed the current state of the leveraged finance markets, with the following key take-aways:
- Market fundamentals remain constructive overall, however facing elevated volatility in the short term given the wider macro and geopolitical events - this has led to a disciplined repricing in our markets
- Whilst primary supply has been subdued YTD the outlook for the leveraged finance asset class remains positive given the well capitalized corporate balance sheets, low default rates combined with the strong cash balances raised by financial sponsors driving event driven transactions
- Given the current volatility driven by rates and the risk of slowdown investor demand is currently skewed to the more defensive and resilient credits.
- The leveraged finance market will be driven by "windows" this year and issuers will need to be ready to capitalize on these windows to optimize execution and lock-in low funding costs.
Thanks to our clients trust and continuous dialogue, we are able to confirm our leading position in the European leveraged finance capital markets, ranking #3 in 2022 YTD in EMEA HY Corp Bonds in EUR, and #1 in 2022 YTD in EMEA Leveraged Loans in EUR.
Source: Dealogic, 1 Jan - 19 May 2022, as of 20 May 2022