Renewed U.S. junk bond rally ignites hope for more stuck buyout debt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Banks are hoping to quicken the pace of offloading at least some of the billions of dollars of leveraged buyout debt stuck on their balance sheets since last year, on a renewed rally in U.S. junk bonds after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powells more dovish-than-expected comments this week.

华盛顿（路透社）——由于美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔（jerome powells）宣布更多举措后美国垃圾债券再度上涨，银行希望加快剥离至少一部分资产负债表上数十亿美元的杠杆收购债务的步伐。本周的评论比预期鸽派。

Banks have been selling small parcels of LBO debt in some companies since early December, when optimism of easing inflation and a potential Fed pullback in rate hikes drove demand for junk bonds.

自 12 月初以来，银行一直在出售一些公司的小部分杠杆收购债务，当时对通胀放缓的乐观情绪和美联储可能退出加息推动了对垃圾债券的需求。

This exercise now has more impetus on expectations that junk bond prices will continue to rally in the wake of Powells comments, which raised hopes of slowing rate hikes and a so-called economic soft landing.

鲍威尔发表评论后，这种做法现在对垃圾债券价格将继续上涨的预期产生了更大的推动力，这增加了人们对放缓加息和所谓的经济软着陆的希望。

“Powell‘s remarks have given the market more confidence that a soft landing can be achieved, and opened the window for this rally to continue,” said Christina O’Hearn, leveraged loan and CLO manager at Pretium Partners LLC.

pretium partners llc 的杠杆贷款和 clo 经理克里斯蒂娜奥赫恩表示：“鲍威尔的言论让市场更加相信可以实现软着陆，并为这种反弹继续打开了窗口。”

Junk bond spreads on average tightened 37 basis points on Wednesday, the day of Powells remarks, from a day earlier, according to ICE BAML data. Meanwhile, yields tightened 9 basis points over the same time frame.

根据 ice baml 数据，垃圾债券利差在周三鲍威尔发表讲话的当天比前一天平均收窄 37 个基点。与此同时，收益率在同一时间段内收紧了 9 个基点。

The tightening “should make it easier for banks to sell off paper at prices that are better,” said Jeremy Burton, portfolio manager, leveraged finance group, at PineBridge Investments.

pinebridge investments 杠杆金融集团投资组合经理 jeremy burton 表示，收紧“应该会让银行更容易以更好的价格出售票据”。

There were private trades since December in the $2.5 billion Term Loan A piece of an overall $15 billion debt financing that backed the take-private LBO of Citrix Systems, said three sources familiar with the matter.

三位熟悉此事的消息人士称，自去年 12 月以来，25 亿美元的定期贷款中就有私人交易。这是支持 citrix systems 私有化杠杆收购的 150 亿美元债务融资的一部分。

In January, there were trades at 91 cents on the dollar, the sources said. This is around the level in September when banks sold only about half of the total $15 billion of debt through a U.S. dollar bond, leveraged loan and a Euro-denominated loan. Private trades done in December were at prices a few cents lower, said one of the sources.

消息人士称，1 月份的交易价格为面值 91 美分。这大约是 9 月份的水平，当时银行仅通过美元债券、杠杆贷款和欧元计价贷款出售了 150 亿美元债务总额的一半左右。其中一位消息人士称，12 月份进行的私人交易价格低了几美分。

Reuters could not confirm the exact amount sold in these sales and balance of LBO debt still left with banks. Lead arrangers Bank of America Corp, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

路透社无法确认这些销售中出售的确切金额以及仍留给银行的杠杆收购债务余额。牵头安排人美国银行、瑞士信贷和高盛拒绝置评。

Tens of billions in debt underwritten last year still hang on banks balance sheets, including $13 billion financing the buyout of Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk.

去年承销的数百亿美元债务仍挂在银行的资产负债表上，其中包括为亿万富翁埃隆马斯克收购 twitter 提供的 130 亿美元融资。

Banks could consider selling larger parcels of LBO debt in the primary bond markets where there has been a surge in new issue supply, said the sources.

消息人士称，银行可以考虑在新发行供应激增的一级债券市场上出售更多的杠杆收购债务。

In January, $20.35 billion in 25 new junk bonds were sold in the primary market, more than the $16.5 billion via 18 trades issued in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Informa Markets data.

根据 informa markets 的数据，1 月份，一级市场共售出 25 只新垃圾债券，售出价值 203.5 亿美元，超过 2022 年第四季度通过 18 笔交易售出的 165 亿美元。

“Given cheap valuations (especially in hung debt), investors are likely to increase their demand for new paper,” said Chris Alwine, global head of credit at Vanguard. He added that demand also exceeded the supply of new issues and that would continue “until the full impact of the Fed tightening raises the risk of a late 2023 recession.”

“鉴于估值低廉（尤其是悬而未决的债务），投资者可能会增加对新票据的需求，”vanguard 全球信贷主管 chris alwine 表示。他补充说，需求也超过了新发行的供应量，而且这种情况将持续“直到美联储紧缩政策的全面影响增加了 2023 年底经济衰退的风险”。

(Reporting by Matt Tracy in Washington; Editing by Shankar Ramakrishnan and Matthew Lewis)

（马特·特雷西在华盛顿报道；尚卡尔·拉马克里希南和马修·刘易斯编辑）