Soaring interest rates trigger corporate liquidity crisis US direct lenders raise tens of billions of bets on mezzanine financing

FAP, April 28 / PRNewswire-Asianet /-- Wall Street's direct lenders are raising record amounts of money to provide loans to private equity firms that borrowed heavily in the era of easy money and may now face liquidity constraints. At a time when companies are in trouble and banking turmoil is growing, HPS Investment Partners, Goldman Sachs' asset management and Blackstone have raised more than $40 billion in recent months to lend to companies facing debt refinancing or new loans. Like Wall Street giants, more and more institutions are betting heavily on mezzanine capital. This kind of financing is between debt and equity, and borrowers can often use it to ease the pressure on the cost of capital caused by rising interest rates.