Market cycles show there is a clear anomaly in the Senior Secured Loans space with record setting yields and compelling risk-adjusted returns. High interest rates may be testing company balance sheets potentially increasing defaults, but sitting a-top the capital stack the risk-adjusted proposition from loans exceeds that available across the debt spectrum. While interest rates will likely remain elevated over the next 12 months, even as they fall, lower yields from loans will be offset by a moderation in future defaults, supporting the case for loans’ superior risk-adjusted returns through the upcoming cycle, much like prior cycles – as sung so memorably by the great Shirley Bassey “…it seems quite clear that it’s all just a little bit of history repeating”.

Gerard Fogarty