What's the New Model?

Continuing on thoughts about the $300 billion said to be sitting on the sidelines, waiting to cushion the coming downslide in values, these fund sponsors who raised all this cash over the past few years must be struggling figuring out how to deliver the returns they promised investors. Their investment model was largely based on leveraging up performance in a sky’s-the-limit pricing frenzy, providing 20% plus returns. It worked splendidly for more than five years in an almost free-money lending environment that suddenly evaporated 12 months ago. But without the leverage, the investment model no longer works and the sponsors can no longer make the promotes which drives their business bottom lines.

Given the depths of the credit morass, free-flowing debt will not be coming back any time soon. When lenders finally sort out all their issues and regulators finish with implementing stricter guidelines, borrowers will pay more for less. We’re in a deleveraging environment for some time to come.