Robert Cohen on Private vs. Public Corporate Credit

Robert Cohen, head of DoubleLine’s Global Development Credit team, analyzes private credit, including its transient venture beyond middle-market lending into large-borrower underwriting during the pandemic-ushered corporate capital vacuum and the decline of that timely trade in the wake of the full recovery of the syndicated loan and high yield bond markets. In 2020-2023, private credit afforded asset managers and other lenders “an opportunity to generate substantial alpha beyond the riskiness of these credits,” he notes. “In fact, Doubleline participated in this. We made loans to companies - in a couple of cases, companies that were previously investment grade credits that were downgraded to below investment grade, companies which had a difficult time accessing capital because the markets were shut down.” Mr. Cohen shares his perspectives in a July 18, 2024, interview, with DoubleLine Product Specialist Chris Stegemann.