With the U.S credit market creaking loudly in December – before rebounding somewhat in January – leveraged loans once again were thrust into the spotlight, with observers citing loosening underwriting standards and the massive amount of outstandings as areas of special interest.
While those are legitimate concerns, the defaults that can mount as credit cycles deteriorate might have to wait a while this time around.
While the U.S. leveraged loan market now totals some $1.15 trillion in outstanding debt, relatively little of it will come due over the next few years, as borrowers have taken full advance of an accommodating market in 2017 and 2018 to lock in thinly priced debt.
Indeed, this year there’s but a scant $8 billion of U.S. leveraged loans that will mature, according to LCD. That number was roughly $44 billion as of December 2017, though refinancings and repricings reduced that amount dramatically.
Loan maturities step up a bit in 2020, to $25 billion, and to $69 billion in 2021. But it’s not until 2022 when maturities really start to kick in, with $118 billion due. Maturities peak in 2025 – seven years from now, or the length of some credit cycles – when there is $351 billion due.
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