Buyout firms are shaving tens of millions of dollars off interest costs by refinancing debts racked up in private credit markets with publicly traded bonds and loans, delivering a windfall for the Wall Street banks that arrange them.
Roughly $10bn of so-called private credit loans have been refinanced in public markets, as borrowers pay down burdensome loans in favour of a cheaper alternative, according to data from Bank of America.
Private equity firms that buy out companies are taking advantage of a recovery in global corporate bond and loan markets, after the Federal Reserve signalled that inflation had been sufficiently tamed for it to begin cutting interest rates.