Direct Lenders Support Existing Investments But Open For Opportunities
By Kristen Haunss – Reuters
PennantPark Founder and Managing Partner Art Penn spoke with Reuters’ Kristen Haunss to discuss strategies BDCs are employing to simultaneously support existing investments while remaining open to new opportunities.
Art provided insight on companies using revolving lines of credit to ensure ample liquidity – though he noted that none of PennantPark’s portfolio companies have made such requests yet – and offered a brief forecast of how he foresees the credit market developing in the coming months. “As each day of new information sinks in and the length of the breadth of the shutdown (continues), I think (lenders) will focus more inward to help existing companies rather than sign new deals until we get a sense of the bottom and when and how does this end,” he said. “Our top priority is for our existing investors, and how do we protect them.”