06 May Voya Senior Loan Group – ‘Talking Points’ – Slow on News, Steady on Return (incl. April in Review)
Voya Senior Loan ‘Talking Points’ is a weekly publication from the Voya Senior Loan Team Heads, which provides key insights and results in the Senior Loan marketplace.
Slow on News, Steady on Return
In a week light on headline-grabbing news, the loan market held steady, despite further moderation of the issuer-friendly technicals that have dominated most of 2017. The S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Index gained 0.09%, while the average bid remained unmoved at 98.31.
New issue pricing appears to be loosening up some, as, after a long stretch of credit spread-tightening repricing activity, arrangers actually flexed spreads on a number of transactions this week. Nonetheless, the average yield-to-maturity for new issue Single B loans came in 8 bps, to 5.21%.
April in Review
The Index returned 0.44% in April, which makes for fourteen consecutive months of positive performance for the asset class, and a cumulative return of approximately 13% during that period.