Covenant Lite Loans Made Up More Than Half Of Issuances In H1

The Federal Reserve, along with plenty of money managers and market analysts, have been concerned about lax lending standards as investors search for better yields. Critics may find some solace in learning that total leveraged loan volumes fell to $315 billion in the first half of this year from $404 billion in 1H13, but covenant lite loans mostly held their ground, now making up slightly more than half of institutional loan issuances. “U.S. institutional loan issuance in the first half failed to match last year’s record pace, though issuance was still double that of the same period of 2012. Covenant…