Good day and welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Thursday, May 7. In today's briefing, the pendulum is swinging back toward lenders in private-credit deals, with funds being more selective in response to widening spreads, declining loan values, and elevated market uncertainty, according to advisory firm Lincoln International. Meanwhile, to ease investor concerns, Apollo will begin offering daily valuations for its private-credit funds by late September.

Creditor negotiations are tilting back in favor of lenders as widening spreads, falling loan values and heightened market uncertainty make private credit funds more selective, according to advisory firm Lincoln International.

Concerns that software companies could underperform because of artificial intelligence-driven disruption, along with uncertainty surrounding the Iran war, have reduced lenders’ willingness to deploy capital, said Ron Kahn, co-head of Lincoln International’s global valuations and opinions group.

“You have an environment where these private credit funds are a little bit less apt to put money out than they were a few months ago,” Kahn said.

Reduced competition among lenders has allowed private credit funds to offer less leverage and impose tighter covenants on deals. “Borrowers have to take it,” he said.

Default rates remained steady in the first quarter at 3.1% of loans tracked by Lincoln International. Payment-in-kind (PIK) interest also held constant at 10.6% of all loans, consistent with levels observed in 2025, the firm said.

What has changed is an uptick in lender takeovers over the past two years, Kahn said. In 2025, lenders took control of $24 billion in loans across 43 transactions, followed by $15 billion across 19 deals so far in 2026. That compares with $10 billion in 2024 and $2.7 billion in 2023, he said.

–Alicia McElhaney

Apollo says it plans to offer investors daily valuations for its private-credit funds by the end of September, a move that could help ease worries about the health of an opaque world of lending.

The private-market giant disclosed its plans Wednesday during a call with analysts after reporting its first-quarter results.

When mortgage broker Market Financial Solutions collapsed in February, investors scoured court filings and queried lenders to see who took the hit.

One name they hadn’t found was HSBC. Through a complex loan via a chain of special-purpose vehicles, the British bank with a global footprint has turned out to be among the most exposed to the defunct broker’s allegedly fraudulent business.

Dechert has hired three partners for its restructuring practice in Dallas.

Marcus Helt, Debbie Green and Jack Haake joined from McDermott Will & Schulte. Helt has represented distressed public and private companies across industries, both in and out of court, as well as buyers and creditors involved in those matters, according to Dechert. Green and Haake bring experience in litigation and restructuring, the firm said.

The trio brings the total number of lateral partners Dechert has hired this year to 40. The firm recently expanded its Texas presence beyond Austin by opening new offices in Dallas and Houston.
McDermott could not immediately be reached for comment.

Dechert has played roles in the bankruptcies of LATAM Airlines, At Home Group and RCS Capital.

–Becky Yerak

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