Graeme Smith
Partner & Managing Director, London
More than a decade after moving into the European lending market, alternative lenders continue to move the needle. By employing new lending strategies and harvesting existing portfolio companies, non-bank lending now accounts for 62% of the activity recorded in our survey.
We are delighted to release the latest edition of AlixPartners' Mid-Market Debt Report, based on our bi-annual survey covering over 100 bank and non-bank lenders active in the UK and European mid-market (debt transactions valued up to €300 million).
At a glance:
- European mid-market lending activity increased in 2019, with lenders completing 2% more transactions than in 2018.
- Non-bank lenders market share increased to 62% in H2 2019 as the funds developed new lending strategies and harvested existing portfolios.
- Direct lenders’ competition against the syndicated loan market gained momentum, with sponsors increasingly attracted to deal certainty and flexibility, especially with the pricing gap narrowing.
- After a pause in H1, fundraising bounced back in H2 2019. There is now over $110 billion of dry powder to be deployed across the European debt markets.
- Despite reinvigoration in H2 2019 (particularly outside of the UK), ABL activity declined in 2019 as reduced M&A activity negatively impacted the market.
