News & Insights
Featuring commentary from Andrew Axelrod on navigating complexity in middle market credit and unlocking value through active involvement.
Switching Costs, The Moat Customers Don't Notice They're Trapped By
A revenue decline and a customer defection look identical on a P&L. They are not the same event, and confusing them is...
August 19th, 2026|4 min read
The Compounders Built on Overlooked Balance Sheets
See's Candies. Nebraska Furniture Mart. Borsheim's. Berkshire Hathaway's formative deals were not famous companies....
August 5th, 2026|4 min read
2026 2H Market Outlook – the “Velvet Rope Market”
When we published our annual outlook in January, the defining feature of leveraged credit markets, from where Axar...
July 9th, 2026|7 min read
Active vs. Passive in Distressed Credit: Why Showing Up at the Table Changes the Outcome
Consider a scenario where a middle market company tips into distress. The capital structure is contested, the...
June 18th, 2026|8 min read
The PE Overhang: Why Sponsors Are Stuck and What It Means for Credit
Private equity has a returns problem that is not showing up in IRRs. It is showing up in distributions.
June 3rd, 2026|7 min read
What Happens to a Company After a Liability Management Exercise
In 2022, a mid-size sponsor-backed company facing a wall of maturing debt executed a Liability Management Exercise...
May 20th, 2026|6 min read
CLOs Own 75% of the Leveraged Loan Market. Here's Why That Creates Pricing Anomalies.
Market participants who approach leveraged loan pricing through a purely fundamental lens will periodically encounter...
May 6th, 2026|4 min read
The Chopping Block: The Anatomy of a Great Distressed Investment
WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT The Financial Times recently ran a story titled “Distressed debt funds excited about private...
April 24th, 2026|8 min read
The Lenders Who Left: How a Decade of Easy Money Quietly Reshaped the Distressed Credit Landscape
The exit from middle-market distressed credit wasn't dramatic. No firm issued a press release declaring the strategy...
April 22nd, 2026|4 min read
Credit Quality in Decline — Why the Middle Market Is Axar's Hunting Ground
Between 2015 and 2021, the U.S. leveraged loan market grew 75%, ballooning from roughly $800 billion to $1.4 trillion.
April 10th, 2026|5 min read
From Grave Concerns to Growth: The Everstory Revival
There are roughly 3 million deaths in the United States every year. That number does not fluctuate meaningfully with...
March 30th, 2026|11 min read
2026 Market Outlook
2025 looked like a benign year for risk assets. Equity indices finished strong, setting many records along the way, and...
January 19th, 2026|9 min read
The Chopping Block: Building Culture- How Two CEOs Turned Distress into Durable Growth
WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT We sat down recently with the CEOs of two of our most exciting and dynamic portfolio...
November 11th, 2025|8 min read
Credit Unbound IV: Capitalizing on a Shifting Opportunity Set
Part IV – Axar’s Experience, Strategy and Edge in Today’s Credit Market In this Insight Series, we’re sharing a short...
October 27th, 2025|8 min read
Credit Unbound III: Capitalizing on a Shifting Opportunity Set
Part III – Leveraged Loans: A Structurally Inefficient Market In this Insight Series, we’re sharing a short series of...
September 15th, 2025|8 min read
Credit Unbound II: Capitalizing on a Shifting Opportunity Set
Part II – A Wider Moat: Reduced Competition in Middle Market Credit In this Insight Series, we share perspectives on...
September 8th, 2025|5 min read
Credit Unbound I: Capitalizing on a Shifting Opportunity Set
Part I: The Road from Boom to Stress – Credit Quality in Decline In this Insight Series, we’re sharing a short set of...
September 1st, 2025|6 min read
The Chopping Block: Chipping Away at the LME Opportunity
WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT Liability Management Exercises or "LMEs" have become a defining feature of the current credit...
June 20th, 2025|6 min read
When The Music Stops
902 Broadway in New York’s Flatiron district was an unusual location for a creditors meeting, but then-CEO of SFX...
March 3rd, 2025|7 min read