Investors are increasingly wary of lenders who dish out so-called bad PIK, or payment-in-kind interest, to help struggling portfolio companies avoid default, according to Anant Kumar, global investment strategist at Benefit Street Partners, the private credit arm of $1.7 trillion asset manager Franklin Templeton. “If you’re a manager who wants to mask stress in the portfolio by doing that, you can probably fool some of the people some of the time,” he tells Bloomberg News’ Sinead Cruise and Bloomberg Intelligence’s Tolu Alamutu in the latest Credit Edge podcast. “I do think investors will catch on if you see a widespread use of PIK in the portfolio without any resolution.” Those managers will likely undershoot expectations when their next fundraising rolls around, Kumar says. The trio also discuss the resilience of private credit illiquidity premia, the specter of inflation and how an industry transparency push is forcing firms to address dubious marks faster than ever before.

<p>Investors are increasingly wary of lenders who dish out so-called bad PIK, or payment-in-kind interest, to help struggling portfolio companies avoid default, according to Anant Kumar, global investment strategist at Benefit Street Partners, the private credit arm of $1.7 trillion asset manager Franklin Templeton. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re a manager who wants to mask stress in the portfolio by doing that, you can probably fool some of the people some of the time,&rdquo; he tells Bloomberg News&rsquo; Sinead Cruise and Bloomberg Intelligence&rsquo;s Tolu Alamutu in the latest Credit Edge podcast. &ldquo;I do think investors will catch on if you see a widespread use of PIK in the portfolio without any resolution.&rdquo; Those managers will likely undershoot expectations when their next fundraising rolls around, Kumar says. The trio also discuss the resilience of private credit illiquidity premia, the specter of inflation and how an industry transparency push is forcing firms to address dubious marks faster than ever before.</p>

The Credit Edge reviews the top credit news of the week and looks at the week ahead, with in-depth research of the most important corporate sectors, trends and themes. Analysis of specific corporate bonds and credit default swaps is backed by Bloomberg Intelligence's robust data sets and indexes.

<p>The Credit Edge reviews the top credit news of the week and looks at the week ahead, with in-depth research of the most important corporate sectors, trends and themes. Analysis of specific corporate bonds and credit default swaps is backed by Bloomberg Intelligence's robust data sets and indexes.</p>

The Credit Edge by Bloomberg Intelligence

Investors Keeping Score on 'Bad PIK', Benefit Street Partners' Kumar Says

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e51555ae-b3c8-485e-853f-b49e00ebfa2f/transcript