Pain all over in corporate capital raising

From the German equity capital markets, through leveraged finance, to the hairier parts of the blue chips’ balance sheets, raising capital is not easy if you’re a corporate treasurer.

We take a look at the problems hindering Frankfurt-listed companies from raising equity capital and what they propose to do about it — not to mention the perils they face if they do.

But we also look at the barren leveraged finance market. Sponsors and banks in this deal desert had found an oasis in the form of direct lenders. But now the well looks to be running dry, we investigate why and what the alternatives are.

We also look ahead to what must surely be a day of reckoning fast approaching for companies with hybrid capital — a complex type of funding designed to improve an issuer’s debt metrics and credit ratings. The market for hybrid debt has been moribund but it cannot remain that way forever. We talk about what is likely to happen when it reopens and what affect this will have on the companies that use it.