Hong Kong, June 13, 2018 – …middle-market loans are often senior and secured, a world apart from covenant-light corporate bonds. In addition, because of their smaller size, such companies can only borrow only up to five times their underlying cash flow, versus six times or more for larger firms, says Ken Kencel, president and CEO of Churchill Asset Management LLC…
New York, May 14, 2018 – Following on the heels of a record year of capital raising, debt financing provider Churchill Asset Management recently closed a $300 million collateralized loan obligation fund, Churchill Middle Market CLO IV. Churchill is part of Nuveen, the asset management division of TIAA. Overall, Churchill manages more than $4.4 billion in committed capital. We asked CEO Ken Kencel about his firm’s investment approach and thoughts on middle-market lending…
London, May 1, 2018 – Three years after joining TIAA-owned Nuveen, Churchill Asset Management’s president and CEO Ken Kencel and head of origination and capital markets Randy Schwimmer continue to make their mark by drawing on their deep industry roots and extensive network of relationships…
NEW YORK, January 18, 2018 – “Two years ago, a larger middle market company with $75–100 million of EBITDA would most likely raise capital from the private markets with a club execution. Today, that same company can execute a syndicated deal with banks that will underwrite and sell it to CLOs and mutual funds—at higher leverage, lower pricing, and covenant-lite,” says Ken Kencel, CEO of Churchill…
NEW YORK, January 3, 2018 – And as the direct lending market matures, established managers that have grown in size may get an edge in future fundraising, says Ken Kencel, president and CEO at TIAA’s Churchill Asset Management.
“The window for newer managers to raise money is going to continue to narrow,” Kencel says. “Consultants will increasingly allocate to managers with scale.”…
NEW YORK, November, 2017 – Churchill Asset Management joins the expanding list of the managers in the CLO market this year by pricing its first new issue middle-market CLO TIAA Churchill Middle Market CLO II. Arranged by Wells Fargo, the deal receives a warm welcome as it achieves the second tightest triple A spread of 150 basis points and a low funding cost of 2.17%. Wells Fargo remains the dominant arranger in the market as it continues to bring more deals to the field and raise its volumes to $7.56 billion – roughly 43% of the market…
NEW YORK, October 25, 2017 – Indeed, loan covenants for borrowers have become a point of distinction in the market, with some established direct lending firms sticking to stricter terms, but other newer entrants – or managers seeking to grow faster – offering lighter provisions, says Randy Schwimmer, senior managing director at Churchill…
NEW YORK, October, 2017 – Ken Kencel, CEO of Churchill says, “We see credit facilities as small as $250 million in size that are being done cov-lite. Three years ago that would not have been the case. As a result, the upper middle market has become more syndicated, more distributed, and more underwritten to sell. Lenders in this space have shifted from the ‘storage business’ into the ‘moving business’ —often at the expense of covenants and other structural protections, with lower pricing and higher leverage. This is something that has happened increasingly in the last several months.”
NEW YORK, October, 2017 – EBITDA adjustments have expanded beyond conventional add-backs like the cost of headcount reductions. For example, one of the more aggressive add-back that firms now request includes taking into account the projected revenue generated from a new product or customer over the next 12 months, says Randy Schwimmer, senior managing director and head of origination and capital markets at Churchill Asset Management.