Leveraged finance primary in Europe is seeing a dribble of supply, in a variety of formats, from A&Es in euros, dollars and sterling, new issue bonds in euros and dollars, a new euro and dollar loan, and an add-on.

Ineos Enterprises has launched a fairly hefty new issue in euros and dollars, bringing €820m to fund the acquisition of MBCC Admixture — but a lack of portfolio churn between sponsors in the LevFin space is keeping true new issue LBOs on the sidelines, and even for those deals which do surface, direct lenders may still have the competitive edge. As long as they keep a decent appetite for what would normally be a syndicated loan, primary supply will continue to lag behind the norm of a fully functioning market.