A divide is growing in the U.S. corporate debt market.
On the one hand, publicly issued bonds have become more transparent. They are more regulated and more easily accessible to all types of investors through stock-like shares of exchange-traded and mutual funds.
But on the other, an increasing share of corporate debt is moving into the shadows. Privately sold bonds account for a growing proportion of the U.S. credit market, especially among lower-rated companies.
The total amount of North American private debt assets under management surged 35 percent from the end of 2012 through mid-2016, to almost $400 billion, according to Preqin data that tracks private-equity style, closed-end private debt funds. Just as a reference point, th…
Read the full article at: https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-02-01/democratization-of-debt-pushes-more-of-it-into-shadows