This is the inaugural covenant data report for the U.S. high yield market. This report includes data on high yield bonds reviewed by the 9fin U.S. legal team during the first half of 2024, including sponsor deals. For purposes of the statistics we present in this report, we have excluded any investment grade bonds or “high yield lite” bonds (by which we mean a covenant package somewhere between investment grade and high yield). This report also does not include statistics on bonds reviewed by the European legal team. Note that in the U.S., most of our data is based on covenants from preliminary OM’s, not final OM’s. 

In presenting our data, we focus in particular on debt incurrence and leakage through restricted payments and investments.