by Ron Carleton | Dec 10, 2013
In November 2011, ACCO Brands, a leading manufacturer of office products, and MeadWestvaco Corporation, a leader in packaging, agreed to merge MeadWestvaco’s Consumer & Office Products business into ACCO Brands in a transaction valued at approximately $860...
by Ron Carleton | Mar 30, 2012
We often tell our clients that a company does not file for bankruptcy on a particular day because it has too much leverage, or because it has a bad management team, or because it has a competitive disadvantage. All of these factors may eventually drive a company out...
by Tim Delaney | Apr 28, 2010
We stumbled upon these striking charts in an article in the Financial Times recently. It has interesting implications for credit analysis. The last decade’s boom in credit has been remarkable, led, of course, by mortgage-backed securities. But debt funding by...
by Ron Carleton | Oct 19, 2009
In the last 6 months, we’ve seen a number of “amend and extend” transactions. Typically they involve: The extension of the maturity of a term loan and/or revolver (typically for syndicated, non-investment grade loans). This is only for lenders who...
by Ron Carleton | Apr 2, 2009
Loans to non-investment grade and middle-market companies are typically secured by the borrower’s receivables, inventory, and fixed assets. Pledging this collateral, however, does not reduce the borrower’s likelihood of default. Security should reduce the loan’s loss...
