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Credit crunch

This Month

Sanjeev Gupta, pictured at one of his plants in 2017, is presiding over a manufacturing empire in crisis.

Fitch Ratings says Gupta’s InfraBuild faces default within months

The sprawling steel business is the British industrialist’s last good asset. The credit agency says a breach of its lending agreement “appears probable”.

March

There are growing concerns over private credit risks.

Count Financial keeps some private credit in the family

Count took the bold step of telling advisers to sell off holdings in some private credit funds this month. But Realm products are still in favour.

Metrics co-founder Andrew Lockhart. He has built one of the largest non-bank lenders in the country.

Financial planning giant abruptly tells advisers to sell Metrics funds

Count Financial said it would also launch a wide-ranging review of private credit to assess whether the returns were still work the risk after recent turmoil.

August 2024

Construction in the Melbourne CBD. Oak Capital, which is based in the city, lends against construction projects as well as commercial property.

Melbourne private capital firm lands in ASIC’s line of sight

Oak Capital describes itself as a “mid-tier” non-bank lender and specialises in real estate financing. The regulator has stepped up it scrutiny of the sector.

July 2024

Steve Bulloch, PGIM Real Estate.

PGIM hops on private credit boom with $750m fund

The global fund manager’s first local private credit fund has raised $300 million and received an additional $300 million in commitments so far.

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Private credit structures can be very opaque. But high returns have been attracting investors all year.

‘Marking their own homework’: Inside Australia’s $200b unregulated private credit boom

Credit products are being launched a mile-a-minute, promising plenty of returns buoyed by high rates. But behind the euphoria, there’s plenty of disquiet.

April 2024

Former Cromwell Property Group chief executive Paul Weightman has been accused of a corporate raid.

This Australian executive is taking on a US private investment giant

As chairman of Cromwell Property Group, Paul Weightman saw plenty of corporate jousting. Now the Corinthia Global Management founder is staring down Barings.

March 2024

Liontown managing director Tony Ottaviano has scrambled again for a new debt deal.

Liontown buys time for lithium resurgence with shrunken debt deal

Less money, fewer banks and a lot less time. Liontown’s new debt deal is very different, but it buys the lithium miner time to start up its new mine and pray for better prices. 

January 2024

FICO gets a royalty for the use of its credit score for just about every mortgage, credit card or auto loan origination in America.

The lone Aussie riding US credit monopoly sensation FICO

US credit growth has hit the brakes as higher interest rates bite, but the American credit rating agency’s share price has jumped 87 per cent this year.

October 2023

Republicans argue the US congress is entitled to vote on the proposed deal with Iran over nuclear enrichment and possible weapons

Stocks to suffer in new regime of higher bond yields

Citi’s macro strategist Jim McCormick says markets have changed forever, and while it will be dramatic, it won’t all be bad.

August 2023

Roughly one in four Aussie home loans are set to switch from uber-low fixed rates to heinously high variable rates this year.

The owners of these businesses are most likely to default on their home loan

Owners in the retail and construction sectors are more likely than other company directors to miss repayments on their home loan and personal credit cards.

China’s ailing property sector could threaten other parts of the economy.

Stumbling China adds shadow banking mess to a property crisis

Beijing’s latest rate cuts will do little to soothe growing concerns about contagion from the property sector spilling into the broader economy.

May 2023

Jamie Dimon says interest rates could be heading as high as 7 per cent given the level of liquidity in markets.

What if Jamie Dimon is right on higher interest rates?

Stocks and bonds are priced for the number to fall as inflation fades. But JPMorgan’s CEO says banks, firms and investors should prepare for a different result.

First Republic Bank in San Francisco.

How a credit crunch starts: Half of US banks are already insolvent

Across America, thousands of banks are already underwater - and many more are vulnerable to a collapse. Is the entire banking system on the brink?

April 2023

The Alpha Live conference provided a plethora of ideas about what investors should buy and what they should avoid

Ten investment ideas for choppy markets

The Alpha Live conference provided a plethora of ideas about what investors should buy and what they should avoid. Here are 10 of the best.

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January 2023

Lex Greensill’s firm Greensill Capital has collapsed, but supply chain finance continues to thrive

Citi claims supply chain finance ‘more important than ever’

Almost two years after Greensill Capital collapsed, Citigroup is pitching supply chain finance schemes as a tool for tackling rising inflation and interest rates.

ANZ’s decision to cap travel comes as banks around the world conduct layoffs and shrink bonus checks to curb expenses.

ANZ traders’ travel budget capped as banks weigh expenses

The bank’s credit sales and trading desk was slapped with a $150,000 budget to see clients for this financial year, leaving traders fuming over fiscal prudence.

October 2022

Nano founders Andrew Walker and Chris Lumby are both ex-Westpac.

Nano pushes pause on new loans until funding costs fall

Nano is waiting for funding costs to normalise before writing any more home loans.

March 2022

Energy traders call for ‘emergency’ central bank intervention

Industry body says traders need ‘time-limited emergency liquidity support to ensure that wholesale gas and power markets continued to function’.

October 2021

Evergrande Group shares were halted on the Hong Kong market on Monday.

Evergrande shares halted amid report of unit stake sale

Hopson Development Holdings plans to acquire a 51 per cent stake in Evergrande’s property services unit, Cailian is reporting.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/credit-crunch-1mp9