(Bloomberg) -- While the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts may soften returns in all of floating-rate credit, the easing cycle will nonetheless be a catalyst for deals, said Kipp deVeer, head of the credit group at Ares Management Corp.
Lower interest rates and clarity around the US presidential election should prompt more deal flow in the next 6-to-12 months, deVeer said during an interview at the Greenwich Economic Forum Tuesday. He also expects take-privates to accelerate in 2025.
“The take-private phenomenon, I don’t think is going away,” deVeer said. “That’s the result of a lot of private equity ownership, and now a lot of credit capacity that’s been able to support companies being private for longer or for forever.”
While lenders have gotten better returns from higher interest rates, lower rates can provide relief for borrowers and encourage more activity, deVeer said.
“It’s hard to continue to finance middle-market companies when first-lien and senior debt costs 11%,” deVeer said. “That’s prohibitive to growth.”
Recent partnerships between banks and private credit lenders may be more noise than substance, said deVeer.
Citigroup Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. announced a team-up in September. Others including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Barclays Plc and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. have either partnered with asset managers, raised money for private credit investments or set aside balance-sheet funds for such endeavors.
“What they’re trying to do is have enough tools at their disposal that they can do a good job for their corporate banking clients,” deVeer said,“I don’t actually think that they have their sights on building anything so substantial it’ll really compete with us.”
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.