Credit Crunch: Leveraged Loan, Private Credit, CLO Outlook 2026

Private credit is becoming an alternative to loan financing and CLOs are driving most loan supply. In this Credit Crunch podcast, host Mahesh Bhimalingam, Global Head of Credit Strategy at Bloomberg Intelligence and Paul Mehta, Leveraged Credit Portfolio Manager at Aberdeen Investments, reflect on how both the US and European leveraged loan markets fared and on the outlook for loans in 2026. They discuss BI’s leveraged loan outlook publication covering loan pricing, returns, supply and relative value vs. high yield bonds as well as loan growth relative to the bond market using Bloomberg loan and bond indexes. They also address private credit in detail including financing premiums, sizes and risks along with the outlook for CLO issuance, reinvestment risks, arbitrage evolution and implications for 2026.