From the Inside Flap
The financial crisis that began in 2007 has prompted unprecedented volatility in asset valuations and left many wondering how to overcome its challenges. Given this extreme investment environment, investors need to make decisions that enable an appropriate risk/return profile, and the leveraged finance market can be a very important option in this regard. Nobody understands this area better than the author team of Stephen Antczak, Douglas Lucas, and Frank Fabozzi. And now, with Leveraged Finance, they help both experienced and aspiring market professionals gain a better understanding of today's high-yield corporate debt markets.
Leveraged Finance doesn't attempt to predict the future of markets or the ultimate outcome of this crisis. It was written to put the principles of the leveraged finance market in perspective. With this reliable resource as your guide, you'll quickly become familiar with the tools available in the leveraged finance market, how they are related to assets and investment opportunities in other markets, and how to apply these concepts in the real world.
In the past, the assets within the leveraged finance market fell into one of two categories: cash bonds or cash loans. But times have changed. With the introduction of products such as credit default swaps, synthetic indexes, and index tranches, leveraged finance investors have many tools to work with and assets to consider. This book attempts to tie the various pieces that comprise the leveraged finance market together. Its fourteen chapters are divided into five comprehensive parts:
- Part One covers the cash markets, which include high-yield bonds--also known as speculative-grade or junk bonds--and leveraged loans
- Part Two takes a look into the structured market, focusing on one type of collateralized debt obligation--collateralized loan obligations (CLOs)
- Part Three examines the relatively young synthetic markets, which include credit default swaps (CDS), traded credit indexes, and index tranches
- Part Four reviews trading strategies that investors can employ within the leveraged finance market
- Part Five addresses default correlation--the phenomenon that the likelihood of one obligor defaulting on its debt is affected by whether or not another obligor has defaulted on its debts
Those with the knowledge and skill to participate in the leveraged finance space stand to benefit from the many opportunities that the current environment is creating. Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, Leveraged Finance will help you identify and take advantage of these opportunities.
Stephen J. Antczak, CFA, is an Executive Director at UBS. Prior to joining UBS in 2001, he was a senior strategist at Merrill Lynch, and he has also worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics as an economist. Antczak graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in economics and an MBA in business economics and finance.
Douglas J. Lucas has been a Group Managing Director and Director of Ratings Research at Moody's Investor Service since November 2008. Prior to that, he was head of CDO Research at UBS. Lucas has a BA magna cum laude in economics from UCLA and an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago.
Frank J. Fabozzi, PhD, CFA, CPA, is Professor in the Practice of Finance and Becton Fellow at Yale University's School of Management, Editor of the Journal of Portfolio Management, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Structured Finance and the Journal of Fixed Income.
