With only a trickle of primary deal flow, those that have exposure to a good credit are using every clause in their toolkit to maintain it. Two deals in the market are illustrative of this: French cyber security services business PR0PH3CY (rebranded NeverHack), which has retained its existing lender Eurazeo following Carlyle’s investment, and financial services business Azets likewise, which has retained lenders CDPQ, Hayfin, MV Credit and Permira following the entry of sponsor PAI Partners, according to 9fin sources.

One such clause is the portability provision — agreeing now that any future sponsor may keep the existing debt package on its existing terms, as long as the sponsor in question features on a pre-agreed whitelist.