Americas Private Credit Review – July 20, 2026

✨ Summary by AI at Octus

Welcome to Octus’ Americas Private Credit Review. This regular report encapsulates market information, data and commentary relevant to private debt investors and professionals in the United States. We include a curation of Octus’ enterprise journalism, with links to unverified third-party press reports and primary sources. Finally, the review includes a link to a deal origination pipeline for buyout and refinancing transactions.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Octus’ Americas Private Credit Review. This regular report encapsulates market information, data and commentary relevant to private debt investors and professionals in the United States. We include a curation of Octus’ enterprise journalism, with links to unverified third-party press reports and primary sources. Finally, the review includes a link to a deal origination pipeline for buyout and refinancing transactions.

Every week, Octus publishes the Primary Issuance Tracker, which tracks global loan and bond issuance data dating back to 2020 and through today.
 

By Geoff Burrows

If private lenders have to take over company ownership in light of deteriorating performance or sponsor reticence, they want to be ready from the opening whistle, says Robert Del Genio, senior managing director at FTI Consulting.

As credit markets strain from AI uncertainty and overlevered capital structures, sponsors, lenders and their advisors are refining the playbook for change-of-control situations. Mandates for financial advisors such as FTI vary, but when lenders prepare to take the keys, they are tapping advisors to develop transition plans that are “almost similar” to those seen in business carve-outs, Del Genio notes.

Several private credit-backed companies have tapped restructuring advisors in recent months to prepare for all outcomes, including debt-for-equity swaps. A month ago, Medallia announced that its lenders Blackstone, Apollo and KKR were taking ownership of the customer experience company, confirming Octus’ report from April. Less than a month after breaking news on the Medallia equitization, Octus reported Curia Global had tapped advisors and is in discussions with lenders to address its capital structure woes.

While not every situation results in a change of control, Del Genio himself has been involved in several situations where sponsors realize it makes economic sense to hand the keys over to lenders. “An orderly transition out of court is better for the lenders,” he said, adding that sponsors are keen to preserve the strong ties between private equity and private credit.

Sponsors and private lenders are also refining their playbook to address stress in their portfolios without handing over the keys. With companies under scrutiny as they look to grow into their capital structures and fend off AI concerns, sponsors such as Thoma Bravo have embraced private credit providers trading holdings to develop lender groups with long term conviction, Octus reported last week. Thoma Bravo-backed Coupa Software, Anaplan and Jeppesen are among the companies “market makers” are shopping between lenders to manage software exposure, as reported.

The development of private credit trading also benefits lenders that are facing pressure from rising business development company, or BDC, redemptions requests, allowing them to lower software exposure by resizing their holdings. For the latest coverage of redemption requests, read Octus’ BDC News and Analysis.

Yet, some of those funds facing redemption requests are also raising capital elsewhere. “They are still raising new capital,” Del Genio said, adding “it is an asset class that institutional investors and patient retail investors are still holding in their portfolio.”

In the event an investment worsens, however, asset managers, assisted by their advisors, are ready to change from lender to equity ownership by developing growth strategies, improving working capital and assessing management teams.
 

Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car subsidiary, is seeking a $2 billion to $3 billion private credit loan to fund growth, Octus reported.

Goldman Sachs has been mandated to lead the process and has been sounding out direct lenders including Ares Management to participate in the financing. The process is in the early stages.

If a deal were to materialize, the debt financing would be among the largest financing efforts for an EBITDA-negative company on record. Despite Waymo’s pre-EBITDA status, lenders see the financing as an attractive opportunity due to the company’s valuable intellectual property and substantial equity backing.

Waymo pioneered the self-driving car industry in 2009, when it began as the Google Self-Driving Car Project. In 2016, the company was formally established as a driverless vehicle technology company under Alphabet, which is still its majority owner. Other outside investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake and Sequoia Capital.

Octus subscribers can access and read a weekly summary of proprietary and aggregated intelligence articles covering upcoming and live buyout and refinancing deals via Octus’ Americas Deal Origination Pipeline.
 

 

• Octus: Driverless Taxi Service Waymo Seeking Up to $3B From Private Lenders to Fuel Growth; Goldman Sachs Advising
• Octus: Adams Street Among Private Credit Lenders Backing Odyssey’s TransPak Acquisition
• Octus: American Industrials Partners Looking to Tap Private Credit for Acquisition of Honeywell Business
• Octus: Sponsors Embrace Private Credit Secondary Trading as Route to Securing Supportive Lender Groups
• ABL Advisor: Audax Private Debt Provides Financing to Support Lightyear Capital’s Acquisition of Corestream
• ABL Advisor: Crown Partners Arranges $130MM Senior Financing for Global Automotive Manufacturer
• ABL Advisor: Temple View Capital Announces Strategic Partnership with Oaktree to Support Private Lending Platform

 

 

• Reuters: Stripe, Advent Offer to Acquire PayPal for More Than $53B
• WSJ: Warburg Pincus, ADIA Near Agreement to Acquire Pantherx Rare for Over $7B
• BBG: New York Yankees in Advanced Talks to Raise $3 Billion in Financing From Apollo
• BBG: JPMorgan Leads Up to $3B Debt Package to Back Warburg’s Acquisition of Pantherx Rare
• PR: Ardian Provides Unitranche Facility to Support Astorg’s Acquisition of Barkene
• PR: Butterfly Expands to East Coast with New York City Office

 

 

• WSJ: Moelis Hires Justin Polselli as a Managing Director in Capital Markets
• PR: Monroe Capital Hires Alexandra Artes-Roy as Director on Direct Originations Team
• PR: McDermott Will & Schulte names dealmaker Robert Rizzo as Global Co-Head of Private Equity
• PR: HarbourVest appoints MD & COO of global private wealth
• ABL Advisor: SixCap Healthcare Finance Appoints Carroll as Senior Relationship Manager
• ABL Advisor: Marsicano Strengthens CIBC’s ABL Team in NYC Metro
• ABL Advisor: Bank of America Expands Regional Investment Banking Coverage, Adds Nine Key Senior Hires Across the U.S.

 

 

• PR: Sagard Credit Partners Hits $1 Billion First Close for Fund III
• PR: North American Private Credit Rebounds with $16.25 Billion Raised
• PR: Crescent Capital Secures $10.8 Billion for Crescent Credit Solutions Fund IV

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