Why Direct Lending Is a Booming Part of Private Debt

What’s direct lending? Old-fashioned bank lending — without the bank. As tougher regulations reshaped the post-financial crisis landscape, traditional banks have cut back on business lending. That’s created a raft of opportunities: For a growing group of asset managers who are making the loans, for borrowers and for investors looking for an answer to low-yield woes. Increasingly, that last group includes hedge funds and buyout firms who are dishing out billions of dollars at a time to lure borr