The deal is expected to attract international demand due to a substantial yield premium.

High-yield borrowing for AI infrastructure has already topped most full-year estimates and has nearly doubled the 2025 total.

While refinancing is driving supply, activity has broadened to include dividends and M&A.

Meridian, a joint venture created by Next Frontier and FluidStack-owned entities, rewrote assumptions about the breadth and depth of the investor base.

QVC made the disclosure after its net leverage ratio exceeded 4.5x, resulting in a breach of its credit facility’s financial covenant.

The deal marks the largest AI-driven financing completed in the high-yield bond market to date.

The leveraged loan, direct lending and high-yield bond markets are at risk of wider credit spreads.

JPMorgan is lead left bookrunner on the dollar loans, and BNP Paribas is lead on the euro loan.

As oil prices flare, the funds were hit with the largest weekly redemptions since October.

Repeat defaulters will be one of the key drivers of European high-yield bond and leveraged loan defaults in 2026, according to Fitch.

BofA’s survey showed that an “AI bubble” ranks as the top concern for investment‑grade investors in Europe for the first time.

Inked in February 2021, the 2.95% 2051 bonds included a standard provision that requires EA to repurchase all or a portion of the notes at 101% of par in the event of a change of control and subsequent fallen-angel downgrade from two or more credit-rating agencies.

Wall Street reactions to the proposal were mixed, with Wells Fargo analysts saying the cap could “wipe out earnings from cards for a year,” while Jefferies deemed it “highly unlikely” that Congress would approve the move.

LCD tracked $328 billion of issuance for the year (Jan. 1-Dec. 15), up 16% from 2024, up 86% from 2023 and more than three times the 2022 amount.

For leveraged markets, the impact of AI has been felt less at the macro level than in the assessment of individual credits, as investors weigh the transformative potential of the technology.

Stable interest rates and supportive fiscal policy are expected to provide a solid foundation for European high-yield bonds in 2026, with yields in excess of 5%.

Desks, almost uniformly, are braced for a ramp-up in borrowing for GCP and capex, particularly to fuel an open-ended AI race.

The US Credit Market Outlook provides a forward-looking analysis of key credit markets, including leveraged loans, private credit, CLOs, distressed credit, high-yield bonds, and investment-grade bonds. It emphasizes expected trends in volume, spread movements, and overall market dynamics for the upcoming year.