KBRA

Building a strong foundation in CMBS starts with understanding how the market works from loan origination through securitization and investing. KBRA's James Wang, MAI will speak during CRE Finance Council’s two-part live CMBS 101 webinar series on September 29 and October 6 at 2 PM EST, covering topics including CMBS structure, the deal process, legal documents, regulation, and current market conditions. Join the webinars to deepen your understanding of the CMBS market.

KBRA's European Macro Strategist Gordon Kerr, spoke to Reuters today, commenting on key developments driving sentiment in European markets. A spike in oil prices, amidst a global bond sell-off, and continued geo-political uncertainty is all adding to the risk-off sentiment. Speaking on the impact of oil prices on global investor sentiment: "Oil volatility is likely to continue in the near term. You have some positive [developments] like the Saudi Arabia oil pipeline, which is opening up, but it's [far from] perfect at the moment," explains Kerr. As the global sovereign bond sell-off continues to attract headlines, KBRA's sovereign credit team published new research on sovereign yield behaviour. Gordon explains the main premise of the research in his latest Credit Compass newsletter: " Longer-term sovereign yields are becoming increasingly disconnected from central-bank policy, leaving financial conditions tighter than headline policy rates might suggest." - Reuters article: https://reut.rs/4hIGlm9 - Access KBRA's research report on sovereign bond yields: https://bit.ly/4iMCplA #Creditinsights #EuropeanMarkets #sovereignbonds

As private credit and leveraged finance professionals evaluate a growing number of middle-market borrowers, speed and consistency are increasingly important when forming and updating a credit view. As Shane Olaleye, Head of Corporate Credit Assessment at KBRA, explains, K-CST gives users direct access to KBRA’s corporate credit framework. K-CST helps users assess borrowers on demand, test changing assumptions, and understand how financial performance can affect an estimated assessment. Learn how K-CST can support your credit analysis and request complimentary access to the new tool: https://lnkd.in/e_VKYBs9

BoE and ECB asset holdings continue to retreat from their post-pandemic peaks, but the UK is moving towards a more gradual approach to quantitative tightening. The BoE’s redesigned Asset Purchase Facility programme should reduce mechanical long-duration gilt supply, while declining ECB holdings continue to shift more sovereign risk towards private investors. Listen to the latest episode of Credit Compass for more on the BoE’s QT changes, Europe’s competitiveness agenda, Germany’s politics, private credit, and sovereign yield curves: https://lnkd.in/gPeWTRme #KBRAPodcasts #CreditCompass #UK #Sovereigns #PrivateInvestors

KBRA is featured in The Bond Buyer discussing how artificial intelligence is changing the cybersecurity threat landscape for state and local governments by increasing the speed and sophistication of attacks, placing greater pressure on public entities to maintain effective cyber defenses and preparedness. Recent cyberattacks on municipal water systems illustrate how those risks can materialize. Peter Scherer, CFA, Senior Director at KBRA, noted that coordinated attacks this summer bore signs of a state actor, while Doug Kilcommons, Managing Director at KBRA, emphasized that the consequences of a breach can vary significantly depending on the systems affected, from disruptions to essential services to compromised proprietary information. Against this evolving threat environment, KBRA looks for issuers to demonstrate ongoing cyber hygiene, appropriate safeguards, and preparedness. Following a breach, KBRA also considers how an issuer responds by strengthening its systems and addressing identified vulnerabilities. Read the article: https://lnkd.in/g_BaCVSP #KBRA #PublicFinance #Cybersecurity

KBRA is featured in Reuters The Insurer discussing how declining property catastrophe reinsurance costs could affect property and casualty (P&C) insurers as market conditions shift in favor of reinsurance buyers. Drawing on KBRA’s recent research, the article highlights that lower reinsurance costs can strengthen an insurer’s credit profile when savings are retained to build capital or used to purchase additional protection and reduce catastrophe exposure. However, those benefits could be offset by greater exposure growth, higher retained risk, or increased capital distributions. Lower reinsurance pricing does not necessarily mean that underlying catastrophe risk has declined. Ultimately, the credit impact is likely to depend on how individual insurers balance capital, growth, and risk as market conditions evolve. Read the article: https://lnkd.in/g6PCE4kR Read the featured report: https://lnkd.in/gVwXBuYy #KBRA #Insurance #Reinsurance

LSEG LPC recently featured KBRA's regional direct-lending comparative analysis, examining credit fundamentals between European and U.S. middle market borrowers. LSEG LPC cites key findings from the KBRA study to explain how European direct lending borrowers are showing significantly lower levels of credit stress than their U.S. counterparts, helped by younger loan vintages, lower all-in interest costs, and a more distant maturity wall. “82% of EU/UK borrowers are assessed at b- or better, compared with 71% in the U.S. Meanwhile, borrowers with elevated leverage, defined as leverage above 10 times or negative EBITDA, account for 16% of the EU/UK cohort versus 22% in the U.S.,” reports LPC, citing the KBRA study. An expansion in KBRA's assessment portfolio of EU/UK middle market borrowers, to 465 unique obligors across more than 50 managers, provided KBRA with the sufficient scale for a regional comparison with U.S. borrowers.” LSEG LPC’s write up available: https://lnkd.in/dwBCKArs Access ‘Across the Atlantic—Comparing U.S. and EU/UK Direct Lending’: Private Credit: https://lnkd.in/exmjNRNY #directlending #middlemarket #privatecredit #creditresearch

European fibre is entering its next phase. In the latest episode of KBRA Podcasts, John Sage, Senior Director and Head of Private Credit Research, sits down with Karim Nassif, Senior Director in Project Finance and Infrastructure, to examine the sector’s shift from rapid buildout to operational performance and refinancing. They discuss what the sector’s growing track record reveals about customer take-up, network utilisation, recurring cash flow, and revenue quality—as well as how lenders are assessing leverage and refinancing capacity as assets mature. Listen to the full episode for insights into the evolving European fibre landscape: https://lnkd.in/dqrZisWa #KBRAPodcasts #RevenueQuality #refinancing #Europe #RecurringCashFlow