Blog Post
Catalent’s $4.1B refi is the latest sign of a bigger shift
The jumbo unitranche loans that defined private credit’s golden age are heading back to the broadly syndicated loan market.
First came UK fintech Finastra, which last year refinanced its landmark $4.8 billion private credit package in the broadly syndicated market. Now Catalent is following a similar path, with banks lining up a roughly $4.1 billion syndicated loan to refinance the direct lending package that supported Novo Holdings’ acquisition of the drug manufacturer.
The shift comes as private credit faces a tougher environment than the one that fueled its explosive growth in 2023 and 2024. The asset class grew on the back of mega unitranche financings that let sponsors bypass traditional syndicated markets, including a $4 billion private debt package led by Apollo Global Management last year to back Thoma Bravo’s $10.55 billion carve-out of Boeing’s Jeppesen.
Direct lenders now face rising redemption requests from retail investors. A slowdown in software buyouts, long a cornerstone of direct lending portfolios, has thinned the pipeline of asset-light companies that once dominated deal flow.
Private credit remains a dominant force in leveraged finance, but the return of these marquee deals to the syndicated market shows the contest runs both ways again.
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