State of Distressed Debt: Ensis’ Shinder on Middle-Market Workouts

“There’s such an informational asymmetry between incumbent investors — the direct lenders who are in the deal and the sponsor — and new parties that it can be harder to bridge that bid-ask,” said Ensis Partners Co-Founder Richard Shinder, “Price transparency acts as a signal... and if you don’t have that price signal, that can be a deterrent to getting things done.” Shinder shared valuable insights into the rapidly evolving middle-market and private credit restructuring landscape in his conversation with Bloomberg Intelligence’s Phil Brendel at the Beard Group Distressed Investing Media Night in New York City on May 19. The discussion delves into asset-liability mismatches, the rising impact of AI and obsolescence risk on technology workouts, pricing transparency challenges and what a “higher-for-longer” interest rate environment means for shifting systemic risks.