AI Blitz and US Borrowing Binge Are Disrupting Debt Benchmarks

A borrowing boom among technology companies and governments is upending debt indexes, raising questions about their relevance to investors. “We’re actually starting to think about whether managing versus a benchmark makes a whole heap of sense,” Ross Pamphilon, Impax Asset Management’s fixed income…

Mom-and-Pop Buyers Pounce on Battered Hyperscaler Bonds, Says Seelaus

Mom-and-pop investors are buying hyperscaler debt after a selloff that has hit bonds with long maturities particularly hard, according to R. Seelaus & Co. “You’re just seeing absolute yields in long Meta paper, or a household name, that retail is starting to find really attractive,” Annie Seelaus, …

TCW Chops Credit Risk to Lowest in 30 Years as CCCs ‘Cry Uncle’

TCW’s $160 billion fixed-income group has slashed credit risk to the lowest in three decades amid valuation and contagion concerns. “Look back over the last 30 years — you would not find a period where we had less exposure to both investment-grade and high-yield bonds as we do today,”Bryan Whalen, …

Blackstone Is Predicting a Big Surge in Quant Credit Investing

Blackstone is looking to more than double its $40 billion systematic credit business, which uses models to crunch data and build portfolios. “This can and should be a $100 billion business if you look at us compared to other large traditional discretionary fixed-income managers,” Adam Dwinells, Bla…

Kirkland & Ellis Sees More Distressed Lenders Flipping Company Boards

More private investors in distressed companies are looking to replace directors and take control, according to Kirkland & Ellis. “It’s a very important remedy — it candidly drives a lot of negotiation when things are distressed,” H.T. Flanagan, a debt finance partner at the law firm, tells Bloomber…

Magnetar Scours $600 Billion Stressed Debt Pile for Bond, Loan Value

Magnetar Capital is scouring a $600 billion pile of troubled corporate bonds and loans for value as much of the debt comes due. “Yesterday’s buyout boom is today’s credit opportunity,” Austin Camporin, head of special situations at the $17 billion alternative asset manager, tells Bloomberg News’ Ja…

Lumen’s CFO Looks Ahead After ‘Moonshot’ Debt Deal That Worked

Lumen Technologies is reducing leverage and reinventing itself as an AI play after completing one of the biggest-ever out-of-court debt restructurings. “We had to keep as many winners as possible if we were going to be able to pull this off,” Chris Stansbury, the company’s president and chief finan…

Hedge Fund Andromeda Warns of ‘Titanic’ Debt Disaster as Yields Soar

High global government yields are a growing threat to corporate debt markets, according to London-based hedge fund Andromeda Capital Management. “You either have to let long-term yields go up — and with that you can cause a credit crunch, especially with all the AI borrowing that’s happened — or yo…

Columbia Threadneedle Scans AI Debt Rush for Alpha Opportunity

Columbia Threadneedle is looking to outperform by buying into the flood of debt from companies building artificial intelligence infrastructure. “It’s really the best place to try to find some volatility and some alpha opportunities here, as long as you can remain nimble,” Tom Murphy, the $715 billi…

‘Things Are Going to Get Crazier’: AI Debt Deluge Recalls 2007 Risks

Massive borrowing by artificial intelligence companies — some of it to fund their own customers — risks inflating a technology-sector bubble, according to Seaport Research Partners. “Things are going to get crazier,” Jay Goldberg, the firm’s senior analyst for semiconductors and electronics, tells …