Jeffrey A. Bakalar is Managing Director, Group Head and Chief Investment Officer of the Voya Investment Management Senior Loan Group. He co-manages the group with Dan Norman, and he is Chairman of the group’s investment committee.
Jeff is currently a member of the board of directors of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association. Jeff received his MBA from DePaul University.
Membership in the LSTA offers numerous benefits and opportunities. Chief among them is the opportunity to participate in the decision making process that ultimately establishes loan market standards, develops market practices, and influences the market’s direction.
This week LSTA members and staff met with Rep. Andy Barr (KY-06). Barr, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, has led bipartisan efforts to pass legislation that would have revised the Volcker Rule in a way that would have permitted banks to hold the debt securities of legacy CLOs and to revise the risk retention rule to allow managers to more easily comply. More recently, Barr was a key participant at a hearing of a subcommittee of the HFSC explaining that neither leveraged loans nor CLOs presented systemic risk.
That is the question answered by the sustainable finance panel at the 25th Annual Refinitiv LPC Loan Conference. Moderated by Maria Dikeos (Refinitiv LPC), the panel explored the recent growth of sustainability-linked loans (or ESG loans) in the U.S. Panelists included Sean Colvin (Louis Dreyfus), Gary Herzog (Credit Agricole), Carolyn Kee (Citiggroup), Claire O’Connor (Barclays Capital), Cara Younger (BBVA) and Tess Virmani (LSTA). The speakers outlined the benefits that these loans can have for the right borrower and also flagged some of the important considerations to be mindful of in structuring these loans.
You may be fielding questions about the recent move in repo rates, ARRC gives you some perspective.
While the daily SOFR spike grabbed the headlines this week, other LIBOR coverage should be noted as well. First, LIBOR’s end is trending. In an American Banker Bankshot podcast, the LSTA’s Meredith Coffey discussed exactly why LIBOR is going away, what the replacement rate likely would be, and why this is important to bankers and borrowers (and students and homeowners!).
For those that missed it – which, based on our email traffic, was no one – the published overnight SOFR rate jumped from 243 bps on Tuesday to 525 bps on Wednesday and then back to 255 bps on Thursday. So what happened to SOFR on Wednesday? We discuss below (and the ARRC explains in this helpful missive as well).
LIBOR, “the world’s most important number”, is likely to cease after 2021. This presents significant—but hopefully surmountable—challenges. We discuss the LIBOR problem, timeline and potential shorter- and longer-term solutions. We know whereof we speak; the LSTA is a member of the overall Alternative References Rates Committee (“ARRC”), the body tasked with replacing U.S. dollar LIBOR. […]
In response to many policymakers mistakenly comparing leveraged loans to the subprime crisis of the financial crisis, Lee Shaiman, LSTA Executive Director and David Lerner, Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Senior Secured Loans and Structured Credit at Shenkman Capital Management, an LSTA member, co-authored an article featured in Morning Consult.
Welcome to Credit Journal – a curated compilation of Fitch Ratings’ in-depth research and commentary. In this issue, we’re exploring all angles of the leveraged finance market. We at Fitch Ratings, as well as our partners at Covenant Review and LevFin Insights, are committed to bringing transparency to the complex and evolving leveraged finance and […]