Investors salivate for distressed debt opportunities

After years of slim pickings, distressed debt investors are preparing for more abundant times.

Following an extended period of low interest rates, rising valuations and easy access to borrowing, many companies have amassed big piles of debt. The massive fiscal and monetary stimulus launched during the pandemic, which masked underlying financial stresses at debt-laden companies, only exacerbated the situation. Now those companies are grappling with a series of headwinds including a slowing economy, falling corporate earnings and rising costs of raising debt financing.