How I tried and failed to escape the debt markets

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News & Analysis

Distressed

LevFin

LevFin feeling French fear, but is it going too far?

“The sick man of Europe” diagnosis pops up frequently these days – just ask the UK, Germany, and Italy. Now the focus is on France. Surging spreads between OATs and European peers underline how investors are repricing French political risk. Both extremes of the political spectrum (Mélenchon versus Le Pen)are loud amid a shrinking centre, given President Emmanuel Macron’s May 2027 exit.

21 Oct 2026

| Europe

News & Analysis

ABF

Distressed

Private Credit

Term time — The financial woes of UK universities

When the University of Nottingham shut down its music and languages department in early October, resulting in more than 500 job losses, it blamed weak enrolment and a “challenging international student recruitment environment”.

20 Oct 2026

| Europe

News & Analysis

Distressed

777 Partners co-founder pleads guilty in fraud case

Joshua Wander, the founder and former chief executive of 777 Partners, pled guilty to wire and securities fraud on Thursday (15 October).

16 Oct 2026

| US

News & Analysis

Distressed

Character AI bankruptcy panics users at risk of losing digital friends

Sebastian came home from school and cried. Earlier in the day, he had learned that Character AI, an app he opens nearly every day, could shut down. Sebastian, a 20-year old student living in Chile, has used Character AI most days since he joined the app three years ago. He treated it casually at first — a way to talk to characters he loved when he was a child, like Clifford the Big Red Dog.

16 Oct 2026

| US

News & Analysis

Distressed

VodafoneZiggo faces hedge fund fire sale after Virgin Media debt plunge

Dutch cable network operator VodafoneZiggo’s bonds have fallen sharply amid creditor worries that it could be “the next domino” in a sector battered by persistently high rates, squeezed margins and regulatory intervention, according to 9fin sources.

16 Oct 2026

| Europe

| US

News & Analysis

Distressed

Private Credit

What matters? Data center lenders debate materiality as construction risk looms

What makes the cut as a material event? It’s a question that has bedeviled Wall Street for years. And it’s a growing concern for credit investors in the fast-growing world of data center finance as they demand greater disclosure on projects’ construction progress amid energy bottlenecks, permitting delays, community opposition and political pushback.

16 Oct 2026

| US

| Europe