gorwth of covenant-lite debt

SP said if sold without the protective covenants that used to be standard in this market, th ranks of covenant-lite debt will swell to 19% of the leveraged-lan market, up from 15%. The prevalence of covenant-lite debt illusrates how the high-yield loan market has become a riskier place to invest. IT is now dominated by buyers like hedge funds and managers of structured financial products such as CLOs, which allow some of the riskiest companies to raise funds at favorable terms. As of thurday, $356 bil in loand were issued year to date, compared with $79 billion of high-yield bonds. The erosion of covenants in the loan market has been a gradual one that has been accerlated since 2006, according to (SP) LCD's historic date.