Leveraged Finance & CLOs Uncovered Podcast: The Credit Fundamentals of Merlin

We’re joined by analyst Casper Andersen to provide updates on the Norwegian, Finnish, and Dutch covered bonds markets, and Icelandic jurisdictional support. We discuss the current housing markets and economic growth for Norway, Finland, and Netherlands and the impact on their respective covered bond markets. We also discuss issuance demand and trends in the Dutch covered bond market and revisions to certain jurisdictional support assessments in our criteria (specifically Iceland). Related Articles: Covered Bonds In New Markets: Issuance Holds Up In 2024 Global Covered Bond Insights Q2 2024: Strong Start To The Year For Issuance Covered Bonds Primer Norwegian And Finnish Covered Bond Market Insights 2024

For our first episode in 2024, our host, Tom Schopflocher, is joined by Cian Chandler, S&P Global Ratings’ Global Structured Finance Chief Analytical Officer, to introduce our “ABS Frontiers” article series. Throughout this year, these informative commentaries will explore sectors that are somewhat “out of the ordinary,” which, in addition to being interesting and possibly not broadly understood by the market, show potential for growth in origination and securitization. Some asset classes we’ve published on so far include C-PACE, music royalties, private credit funds, and bridging loan RMBS. In the episode, we discuss our reasons for embarking on this article series, which include providing market insight based on what we are seeing and what may come down the line. Click on the link below to access the series: ABS Frontiers Series

In this episode of FI15, Joe is joined by Real Estate mogul Ryan Serhant, Founder of SERHANT. and Gregg Lemos-Stein, Chief Analytical Officer – Corporates at S&P Global Ratings. The guests discuss the global real estate market, with Ryan sharing his expertise on leveraging social media and AI to drive success in the industry, and Gregg provides his experience of how large multi-national corporations are currently utilizing AI to unlock new opportunities. Sign-up here to be notified as soon as future episode are published View the series so far here

A worsening in property-sector stress is the key risk stalking the Asia-Pacific financial institutions sector in 2024. "Asia-Pacific banks are managing property sector risks and the vast majority have stable rating outlooks," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst, Gavin Gunning. "We see limited upside ratings potential, given persistent property sector risks, higher-for-longer interest rates and weaker economic growth. More so, if downside risks emerge in property or other areas, it could be tougher for banks to maintain outlooks at current levels." Click here to view our full article.

Hina & Sandeep discuss Altice France with Justine Miquee over an in-depth analysis of Altice France's recent rating action and insights into the key factors shaping the company's performance, and the areas we are closely monitoring.

Series 6, Episode 1: Hina & Sandeep have a discussion with Raquel on credit fundamentals of Nord Anglia and despite raising $600 million term loan add-on, it is able to preserve its ratings, though reducing our recovery estimate for its senior secured debt.

In this short video, Christa Clapp, Global Head of Sustainable Finance Markets Analytics and Co-founder of Shades of Green, explains how we assign the Dark, Medium or Light Green shades for green projects. Find out more about our Second Party Opinions here.

In Episode 33, Scott Tan, Analytical Manager and Managing Director of U.S. Credit Estimates, along with Denis Rudnev, Director of Leveraged Finance at S&P Global Ratings, delved into critical insights from their discussion on "Testing Private Debt's Resilience Through The Credit Estimate Lens." They analyzed over 2,000 credit estimated (CE) issuers, totaling more than $400 billion in outstanding debt, to evaluate the resilience of middle-market issuers amidst the challenges posed by increasing interest rates and margin erosion. View Related Article: Scenario Analysis: Testing Private Debt's Resilience Through The Credit Estimate Lens

In this FI15 podcast episode hear Lori Heinel, Global CIO at State Street Global Advisors, and Yann Le Pallec, Global Head of Rating Services at S&P Global Ratings, discuss key global economic trends and investment strategies with host Joe Cass. Topics include client engagement, investment opportunities, ESG considerations, public speaking tips, personal challenges in the industry and the role of AI in investing. Sign-up here to be notified as soon as future episode are published View the series so far here

We continue to monitor downside risks, particularly property-related, arising from China and Vietnam. Nonbanks in Korea could also face challenges from real estate project financing. Our outlook for the Asia-Pacific banking sector remains steady with 83% of banks on stable outlook as of Jan. 24, 2024. Click here to view our full article.