LFN Poll Archive

Mezzanine financing is experiencing a comeback, and some sources say the asset class is poised to make up a bigger chunk of the capital structure in some LBO deals, even larger ones. Will jumbo mezz financing become a permanent fixture in the market?

Absolutely. We’ll see a lot more of it.	20%
To an extent, but mezz will still remain largely a middle-market asset class.	67%
No dice. Once the markets bounce back, mezzanine financing will once again be pushed out of larger deals.	13%

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress last week that financial institutions should be allowed to fail. What do you think the government’s policy should be?

- The larger danger to the economy requires that the government help prevent financial institutions from failing.	0%
- The government should step in, but only in special circumstances to avoid widespread contagion.	33%
- Let them fail. The government should not cover bad bets.	67%

Oil prices have been setting new records. How high will oil prices go before the end of the year?

$150 per barrel	30%
$175 per barrel	20%
$200 per barrel	30%
Prices won’t get much higher	20%

JPMorgan Chase CEO James Dimon said that the credit crisis is "75%-85% done." Is he right?

Yes	36%
No	29%
What is he smoking?	36%

High yield spreads over Treasurys topped 800 bps in March, and they have since dropped to 685 bps (as of April 28). Will we see 600 in May?

Yes	36%
No	64%

Have recent happenings in leveraged finance, such as more high yield bond deals and banks unloading hung debt, boosted your confidence?

Yes	67%
No	33%

When will the primary leveraged finance markets return?

Not until the second half of 2008.	8%
Not until some time in 2009.	58%
After 2009.	8%
Who knows? But we’ll never see 2006 to 2007 volume levels.	25%

The partnership of NBC Universal with The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital is one recent example of private equity firms and corporations joining forces to buyout a target company (in this case The Weather Channel). What do you think of these partnerships?

A match made in heaven. This is the right time for these deals.	63%
A match made in hell. These groups are too incompatible to work well together.	38%
Too rare. We won’t see many more of these deals in the future.	0%

Many people will be returning from their summer vacations after Labor Day, will a vibrant new issuance market return with them?

Yes, the primary markets will be back after Labor Day.	33%
No, the primary market will still be passed out at the beach.	67%