Shearman & Sterling hosted a series of partner-led calls to answer your COVID-19 questions, including industry trends and the legal and business implications to the pandemic. The calls took place Tuesday through Thursday, March 31–April 2 and  April 7–April 9.

On this call, partners Michael Chernick (New York-Finance), Marwa Elborai (London-Capital Markets) and Merritt Johnson (New York-Capital Markets) discussed the state of the European and U.S. leveraged finance markets from both bank lending and capital markets perspectives, including:

• The economic slowdown accompanied by the COVID-19 outbreak and potential signs of life in the European and U.S. leveraged finance markets;
• Developing key themes including liquidity issues, syndication of existing commitments, covenant compliance and events of default; and
• Debt buybacks as an efficient way to de-leverage versus the desire to maximize liquidity during a time of crisis

Listen to “COVID-19 Insights Series: Leveraged Finance.”