Podcast
Cloud 9fin
Hosted by 9fin · EN
Leveraged finance, distressed debt, and private credit drive today’s markets. Cloud 9fin delivers expert insights on high-yield bonds, syndicated loans, direct lending, and debt restructuring. Join top analysts and investors as we explore credit markets, special situations, and private debt strategies shaping the industry.
From credit risk assessment to institutional credit trends, each episode provides actionable intelligence for fund managers, institutional investors, and financial professionals. Whether you’re tracking high-yield issuances, analyzing corporate debt, or uncovering distressed debt opportunities, we’ve got you covered.
Through its AI-powered data and analytics platform, 9fin provides everything you need to get your head around credit or win a mandate — all in one place. We help subscribers win business, outperform their peers and save time. Stay ahead in leveraged finance market trends—subscribe now for expert discussions on the forces moving global credit.
44episodes
Episodes
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El Niño is Spanish for … The Niño
4d ago00:19:59Tap to summarizeEl Niño is back, and *Cloud 9fin’*s LatAm and CEEMEA editors see credit risks spreading across energy, agriculture and sovereign balance sheets.Deputy LevFin Editor Sasha Padbidri speaks with LatAm Editor Xochitl Herrera and CEEMEA Editor Dan Alderson on how worsening weather shocks are feeding into leveraged credit and emerging market risk.In Colombia, drought could cut hydropower output just as gas production falls, forcing more imports while Canacol works through a Canadian restructuring process. Xochitl also flags Mexico’s exposure to Henry Hub through gas imports, Chilean utilities’ hydropower upside, and Brazil’s soybean and corn vulnerability.Dan breaks down Africa’s uneven El Niño effects, from Southern African drought to East African flooding, against a backdrop of food, fuel and fertilizer disruption.Here’s a summary of the 9fin articles mentioned in the podcast:Africa vs Godzilla El Niño — Key battle lines for credit in 2026/27Colombia braces for perfect storm as El Niño looms over gas crisisFEMSA, KOF and Alsea may benefit from El Niño effectEl Niño could lift Chile utilities, but less than last timeBrazil climate whiplash could put key credits to the testHouston, we have a solution — How space data centers could be debt's next frontierHurricane Helene hits southeastern US borrowersHurricane Beryl shakes up Texas borrowers$98bn in AI projects disrupted by mounting environmental and labor risksResistance is fertile — Iran war’s impact on agriculture and CPIHave any feedback for us? Send us a note at podcast@9fin.com. Thanks for listening!
Transcribe →Stepping into the ‘Archieverse’
3w ago00:26:44Tap to summarizeWhen an announcement was made last year that Universal Studios was making a movie about Archie Andrews produced by Hollywood heavyweights, it should have been a victory for one of comics’ most enduring franchises. Instead, it triggered a legal war which ties up a Beverly Hills mansion, accusations of threats fit for an “organized crime figure” and a much-awaited movie on the line.With a UCC foreclosure auction set for June 15, the fate of Archie Andrews — and the Archie Comics empire — hangs in the balance.In this episode, 9fin’s global head of distressed and LevFin, Max Frumes, sat down with distressed debt reporter Maria Heeter and LME legal analyst Laurie Tomassian, co-authors of a recent investigation into the dispute between lender Raven Capital and Archie Comics co-CEO Jonathan Goldwater to break down how it all unraveled.As a quick shoutout, the episode references and includes short audio clips from the 1969 hit 'Sugar, Sugar' by the fictional bubblegum-pop group, The Archies. The song held the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 100 for eight weeks between October and December 1969. The episode theme song is a tongue-in-cheek homage to The Archies’ second studio album, Everything’s Archie, created bespoke for this episode by our producer Chase Collum.Clarifications: There's actually no show called “Desperate Mormon Housewives. Instead the popular reality television series was called "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives". Also, while Archie Comics did once don the wrappers of Topps bubble gum, that was in the 1950s, and the host was almost certainly referring to Bazooka Joe.Have any feedback on this episode? Send us a note at podcast@9fin.com. Thanks for listening!
Transcribe →The In-court Report — What Bitcoin Depot’s bankruptcy means for creditors (and scam syndicates)
3w ago00:29:28Tap to summarizeBitcoin Depot went from a $600m, publicly-traded business to bankrupt in a matter of months, but the story around the company and other crypto ATM providers has been brewing for years. We happen to have just the guy on staff to break it all down.In this episode of Cloud 9fin, head of bankruptcy Cat Corey talks with senior LevFin reporter Dan Mika about his previous reporting on the crypto ATM industry’s history of targeting neighborhoods of color, and how it has become a favorite tool for organized scam groups to separate victims from their cash. The two also talk about what value is left for creditors in a business model where — in the eyes of lawmakers — the societal harm is too great to ignore.Have any questions? Send us a note at podcast@9fin.com. Thanks for listening!Stories referenced in this pod:- High-fee crypto ATMs center around low-income parts of Kansas City- How Crypto ATMs in the U.S. Became A Favorite Tool for Scammers- FBI Internet Crime Report 2025
Transcribe →Syndication Nation — The tie-up between insurance and America’s AI buildout
4w ago00:39:20Tap to summarizeIn our latest episode of Syndication Nation, leveraged finance reporter Sunny Oh sits down with Mark Melchiorre, chief investment officer of Forza Investment Group, to discuss how insurance-focused asset managers are helping to finance America’s new “Manhattan Project” — the rapid buildout of tech and AI-driven digital infrastructure.Melchiorre discusses his journey through credit markets and the appeal of hybrid capital in a world of growing dispersion. He also talks about the prospects for small modular nuclear reactors, which have garnered interest as power proves to be a key bottleneck in the race to develop new data centers.Check out coverage on leveraged finance and private credit at 9fin.com.Have any feedback on the podcasts? Send us a note at podcast@9fin.com — thanks for listening!
Transcribe →Private Chat — Fundraising and secondaries during private credit’s liquidity crunch
4w ago00:40:39Tap to summarizeIt seems that over the past few months, you could sum up the troubles facing private credit with one word: ‘illiquidity.’ This is a key tenet of the asset class, and it is often cited among the reasons for private credit’s premium. But it also can pose challenges, as seen through record redemption requests from non-traded BDCs and the dilemma of managing the tail end of a fund’s life.Two paths to manage those challenges are to raise more money and engage in secondary transactions. So, who better to ask about this moment in private credit than Campbell Lutyen’s global head of private credit Jeffrey Griffiths, whose team leads private credit fundraising and secondaries advisory.In this episode of Cloud 9fin’s Private Chat series, reporter Tom Quinn checks in with Griffiths to learn about the state of the fundraising market and how secondary transactions are taking shape.Have any feedback? Send us a note at podcast@9fin.com — thanks for listening!
Transcribe →Distressed Diaries — Will the SUNs shine on Arxada A&E deal?
May 2900:20:19Tap to summarizeSponsors Bain and Cinven are confident creditors will approve the A&E deal for Arxada, despite opposition from its senior unsecured bondholders. But is that confidence based on sunny optimism?9fin sources say negotiations are ongoing with the SUNs in the background as the deadline to sign up for the deal is today (28 May). The company may look to extend by a day, Cinven partner Christopher Anderson, said on a Q1 26 earnings call yesterday (27 May).The company received over 90% support from its secured creditors last week, Anderson said. However, he did not give an update on the SUN consent threshold, which was a meagre 20% at the deal launch on 13 May.The company needs 75% from each class of creditors to implement the deal through an English scheme of arrangement, which it filed for on 26 May.In this episode of Distressed Diaries, host and senior reporter Bianca Boorer speaks with distressed credit analyst Yusuf Sule and senior legal consultant Luke Viner about the A&E deal, creditor sentiment, what could happen if it goes to court, and how the company might handle the unconsenting SUNs.
Transcribe →Syndication Nation — From mega-cap to megawatts: How AI data center bonds are rewriting the credit playbook
May 2700:24:13Tap to summarizeIn our latest episode of Syndication Nation, US investment grade editor William Hoffman and senior leveraged finance reporter Sunny Oh discuss one of the hottest topics in corporate credit — data center bonds.With billions of dollars of fresh debt hitting both high-grade and high-yield markets to finance the AI infrastructure buildout, investors are being asked to underwrite these project finance-type deals. That’s changing the job of the average tech credit analyst, forcing them to exercise a due diligence muscle they don’t typically use.For more detail, read Will, Sunny, Yiwen and Dan’s latest piece discussing all the nuances and structures that lenders say can make or break one of these bond offerings. Find all our coverage of this new debt class at 9fin.com.Have any feedback for us? Send a note to podcast@9fin.com. Thanks for listening!
Transcribe →Syndication Nation — The $81bn HY/IG jigsaw puzzle behind Paramount-WBD
May 700:21:15Tap to summarizeIn our latest episode of Syndication Nation, US investment grade editor William Hoffman and LevFin senior reporter Sunny Oh break down a complicated mess of debt headed for the primary in the back half of 2026 to fund the combination of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery.The debt stack is expected to include $32bn of existing bonds and $49bn of newly syndicated debt split across asset classes for one of the largest financings of the year.For more detail, read William, Sunny and Will Macadam’s latest piece breaking down the colossal $81bn debt stack that will finance this deal. Find all our coverage of the Paramount-WBD deal at 9fin.com. Have any feedback for us? Send a note to podcast@9fin.com. Thanks for listening!
Transcribe →Tranche Talk — Unlocking value in infra CLOs with RRAM’s Anjana Ravani
May 500:21:48Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Tranche Talk, *Cloud 9fin’*s CLO series, our global head of CLOs Tanvi Gupta, talks with Anjana Mohan Ravani, head of CLOs and corporate ABS at Redding Ridge Asset Management.They dive into infrastructure CLOs as an exciting growth area and discuss the value proposition for investors looking to underwrite the asset class and what the portfolio composition would look like for these deals.They also delve into the lay of the land in private credit, CLO triple-A investor sentiment and the potential misconceptions about captive equity returns.
Transcribe →Syndication Nation — Is software credit headed for terminal decline?
Apr 2800:29:30Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Syndicated Nation, senior reporter Sunny Oh welcomes Lotfi Karoui, managing director and multi-asset credit strategist for Pimco, to discuss how corporate credit has managed to hold up in the face of geopolitical jitters from the Middle East and worries around the terminal value of software businesses.Karoui also addresses the relative liquidity between direct lending and 144a private placements — often conflated with private credit — the growing dispersion of loan marks in business development vehicles, and questions around whether public bond markets can absorb the flood of data-center-driven issuance spurred by hyperscalers’ AI spending.Find all of our coverage on leveraged finance and corporate credit at 9fin.com.Have any feedback on the podcast? Send us a note at podcast@9fin.com — thanks for listening!
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