https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures


‘Top Grading’

‘Top Grading’

  • Written by Claudia Adrien
  • July 8, 2022

“You may have some companies struggle a little bit more and face potentially lower demand and higher borrowing costs,” Fear said. As a result, some investors may choose to “top grade,” that is, doing only A and B deals, meaning those involving the Best and the Better companies, those with the strongest fundamentals.

“Nobody admits that they rank order A, B and C deals—meaning good, better and best—but almost everyone we talk to on the equity and credit side say they are not doing the C, or good, deals right now, they’re focusing on the better and the best,” Fear said. “Those deals might not miss any beats, because there are strong fundamentals, healthy growth rates, and a lot of capital out there. For the better and the best companies there is plenty of debt and equity capital at not too different a spread than before.”

Both Fear and Van Gorden noted that interest rates on PE-backed MSP deals have risen since the beginning of the year, but still remain extremely low, especially compared to rates in the wider corporate lending market.

Rates on PE-backed MSP deals are typically floating-rate loans with reference rates tied to LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) with a 1% “floor.” Now that the 1% floor has been exceeded, increases in LIBOR have a one-to-one effect on borrowing costs.

“If people compare this to the more liquid, broadly syndicated loan markets, where loan spreads are wider, we may need to make some pricing adjustments to narrow that gap,” Fear said. “Are the risks to growth and the risk to execution a little higher than they were? The answer is probably yes, but it’s not material to the overall equation yet. If it becomes more material, then overall leveragability is going to come down and that will filter through to valuations. But we are not seeing that just yet. What we also haven’t really seen are people saying they have to reduce leverage because debt service is going up.”

 

 

Tags:

Claudia Adrien

Claudia Adrien

Claudia Adrien is a reporter for Channel Futures where she covers breaking news. Prior to Informa, she wrote about biosecurity and infectious disease for a national publication. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Florida and resides in Tampa.

Related Content

  • 2022 MSP 501 logo feature image size
    2022 MSP 501 Regional Rankings: North America, Day 2, Part 1 - South Atlantic States & Caribbean
  • Hand Stop Sign
    Kaseya Fires Back, Rebukes Accusations from Datto Founder in Internal Email
  • 2022 MSP 501 logo feature image size
    2022 MSP 501 Regional Rankings: North America, Day 1, Part 2 – Middle Atlantic States
  • 2022 MSP 501 logo feature image size
    2022 MSP 501 Regional Rankings: North America, Day 1, Part 1 – New England States

Upcoming Events

View all

MSP Summit

September 13, 2022 - September 16, 2022

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

May 1, 2023 - May 4, 2023

Galleries

View all

The Gately Report: Black Hat USA Edition with Cisco, IBM, CISA, More

August 12, 2022

7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at Microsoft, Rackspace, RingCentral, Avaya

August 12, 2022

Oracle Cloud & AT&T, AWS Lead Cloud News Roundup

August 12, 2022

Industry Perspectives

View all

How to Take Shared Responsibility for Securing Cloud

August 11, 2022

Seize the Application Modernization Opportunity

August 2, 2022

A Growth Mindset: Your Organization’s Strategic Differentiator

August 1, 2022

Webinars

View all

Outsmarting RaaS: Implementation Strategies To Help Your Clients Before, During, and After a Ransomware Attack

August 23, 2022

Why it is Important to Upgrade Aging Servers and How to use Live Optics to Upgrade Efficiently

August 25, 2022

Executives at Home are Not Alright: An Intro to Digital Executive Protection

September 8, 2022

White Papers

View all

Work Goes Remote – (and Other Top ITOps Trends)

May 25, 2022

The New Bottom Line: How MSPs Can Meet the Healthcare Crisis While Evolving Their Businesses

April 19, 2022

How to build a Security Operations Center (on a budget)

April 4, 2022

Channel Futures TV

View all

ThreatLocker Preaches Zero Trust, Addresses Industry Competition

ScienceLogic Debuts New Partner Portal

August 9, 2022

Vonage a ‘Single Communications Stack Provider’ for Partners, Customers

June 27, 2022

IBM, Partners and the $1 Trillion Hybrid Cloud Opportunity

June 26, 2022

Twitter

ChannelFutures

.@splunk vet Bill Hustad named @Okta's new #channelchief. dlvr.it/SWXmws https://t.co/ILQesul0Cz

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

The Gately Report: #BHUSA edition with @Hacker0x01, @Cisco, @SaltSecurity, @CISAgov, @ExtraHop, @IBMSecurity, more.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

Channel People Making Waves Include: @kencarnesi, @szebenisz, @vasujakkal, @brettsmith52, @DaveMichels… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

Nancy Henriquez, VP of Sales & Marketing at MSP 501 award-winning @synetek, touches on the importance of gathering… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@Equinix's new hire is a familiar face in the telco channel. dlvr.it/SWXV6v https://t.co/jIg0LrZ4DO

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

Missed the news this week from @OracleCloud and @ATTBusiness? We've got it here. Plus, news from @AWSCloud and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

Huge channel-impacting acquisitions in the past month. We've got details on @IBM, @nokia, @GoTo, @EnsonoIT,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

Boost privacy by design with #shiftleft mindset and add #security to cloud deployments from start, says… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X