As Net Asset Value (“NAV”) credit facilities continue to grow in popularity, we have seen a steady increase in non-traditional borrowers utilizing NAV loans, including family office borrowers. The term “family office” is used...more
Net asset value (NAV) facility documentation, at least in the context of private equity, has evolved to a large extent on the assumption that borrower funds will usually execute transactions in cash - paying cash on...more
Introduction - NAV facilities operate by taking a portfolio of assets owned by a borrower and selecting which assets within that portfolio a lender is willing to lend against. This pool of approved assets becomes the...more
The market for financing pools of interests in private equity funds and private credit funds continues to sizzle, with new lenders joining the market and competition on pricing leading to a tightening of spreads for the most...more
The purpose of this article is to unpack the basic building blocks of what constitutes a NAV Loan to make sure that market participants have a basic understanding of what is in a NAV Loan and their key negotiated issues. As...more
As most Fund Finance Friday readers probably already know, over the summer, the Institutional Limited Partners Association (“ILPA”) issued guidance for Limited Partners (“LPs”) and General Partners (“GPs”) around the use of...more
Executive Summary - Over the last several years, a need has arisen in the fund finance market, which caters to private equity, venture capital, family offices, and other investment funds (“Funds”) and their sponsors, for...more
Last month, the Institutional Limited Partners Association (“ILPA”) weighed in on the interesting philosophical question that fund formation and finance lawyers frequently debate - what is a NAV loan? Where is the line...more
This year is starting to feel a bit more normalized after the 2021-2022 record origination numbers followed by the 2023 market disruption. In many ways, Fund finance has passed the stress test and moved forward. What has 2024...more
While the market for NAV financings—loans to funds supported by the net asset value of their portfolios—grew in 2023 and continues to rapidly evolve, a consensus has developed around what is sometimes referred to as a “Holdco...more
NAV loans are getting constant coverage in the press now. For those of us that spent years trying to direct focus to the potential of NAV lending, this is a welcome development. Admittedly, not all of the coverage is...more
About a year ago, we published “Term Loan Solutions in Fund Finance,” which ended up being a popular article on Fund Finance Friday. Since then we have seen lenders, sponsors, law firms and rating agencies become more...more
The year 2023 presented the fund finance industry with many challenges that it rose to face with an inventiveness and rigour that showed just how mature and multi-faceted the market has become. At Cadwalader in London we saw...more
Higher interest rates have rearranged the investment landscape with liquid products offering more attractive value while forward private market returns are somewhat uncertain in light of challenges facing valuations and the...more
Recallable capital is a hot topic these days in both subscription financing and NAV financing transactions, both at industry events and in the press. There has been a good deal of attention to this concept in the NAV market...more
As noted in Angie Batterson’s wonderful panel at our Finance Forum in Charlotte last month, the term NAV loan means different things to different people, and can encompass a diverse mix of structures and asset classes in the...more
Here’s what we’re reading these days. Less than half of private credit borrowers would generate positive free cash flow in a mild stress scenario, according to a recent analysis by S&P Global Ratings that reviewed more...more
It’s already been two weeks since we wrapped up the Cadwalader Finance Forum in Charlotte, which featured a panel on “New Approaches in the NAV and Secondary Market.” The panelists provided attendees with an entertaining and...more
It has been a common refrain in the fund finance industry that “hybrid” loan facilities (i.e., loans underwritten on the basis of both a fund’s investor capital commitments and its investment portfolio) are constantly talked...more
Net asset value based credit facilities (“NAV Facilities”) are credit facilities pursuant to which the availability thereunder is based on the net asset value of the investments of the borrower, typically a private fund. The...more
Here's what we're reading this week. Sponsor consolidation is likely to accelerate in response to challenging fundraising conditions, according to sources cited in the FT’s Private equity is in for rampant consolidation...more
In this article we look at the lender's right to challenge a sponsor’s valuation of their investments in the context of a NAV-backed financing. This right to challenge is a relatively recent development in these transactions,...more
We reported in last week’s edition of Fund Finance Friday on some of the significant themes and topics at the FFA 7th Annual European Fund Finance Symposium....more
Guaranties are a common feature in fund finance transactions. Particularly in NAV loans, upstream and affiliate (or “sideways”) guaranties are used. Below we discuss some of the context for the use of these types of...more
The 2023 edition of the Fund Finance Association’s annual conference was again filled with interesting insights from a wide range of industry participants and leaders. The panel titled “Market Evolution & Industry...more