Portability to Pipeline: M&A and Loan Markets with Investcorp

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Season 2, Episode 4

On this episode of LFI Levered Lines, Tom Davidson (Host, Senior Editor at Delphi/LFI in New York) is joined by Corey Geis (Global Co-Head of Liquid Credit, Investcorp) to explore the current US loan market, CLO strategy, and how managers are adapting to spread compression, rising portability, and liability management exercises.

The conversation traces Corey’s path from bank credit training and global trading to building Marble Point and leading Investcorp’s liquid credit platform post-acquisition. He highlights how disciplined underwriting, governance awareness, and active relative-value trading underpin resilient portfolios. Corey discusses team integration, succession, and staying nimble in capital markets via refinancings, resets, and selective new issuance.

They unpack the loan market’s robust technicals, the modest and healthy pullback, and a cautious pickup in true new-money M&A/LBO supply. Corey offers views on rates, the BSL–private credit pendulum, and why seasoning in private markets can pave the way to tighter BSL spreads. He emphasizes credit selection in a tight-spread world, managing B3 exposure, and early action around tails and LMEs.

Corey shares practical perspectives on portability provisions—why lenders prefer reevaluation at change-of-control—and on CLO equity math with SOFR+150–175 assets, noting vintage-dependent accretion. He outlines how refinancings and resets help offset asset spread tightening and extend reinvestment to capture future opportunities.