Refinancing to Real M&A: Chris Bonner’s Take on LevFin’s New Era

Listen on Audio:

Watch on YouTube:

Season 2, Episode 5 

On this episode of LFI Levered Lines, host Steve Miller speaks with Chris Bonner, Partner and Head of LevFin Americas at Goldman Sachs, about the evolving leveraged finance landscape. Chris discusses sponsor M&A activity, the return of large public-to-private deals, and corporate carve-outs, with sectors like TMT (especially AI infrastructure), consumer retail, healthcare, and industrials showing renewed momentum. He highlights the competitive dynamics between corporates and sponsors, noting corporates’ attractive cost of capital and more balanced auction processes.

The conversation explores the private credit revolution, emphasizing the complementary nature of broadly syndicated and private credit markets and the rise of “lightly syndicated” private credit.