Capital Commitments and Private Debt Lending in Crises

I study how capital commitments affect the resilience of private debt funds’ lending during crises by comparing private and public Business Development Companies (BDCs) during the COVID-19 shock. Using borrower-level regressions with firm-quarter fixed effects, I find that, in comparison to public BDCs, private BDCs sustained lending, providing about 7%, or $1.2 million, more credit to the same firm. My findings show that pre-committed capital, rather than liquidity buffers, shields private BDCs from financing frictions and enables them to maintain their credit supply when market-based funding is impaired. During crises, private BDCs continue drawing down their commitments to finance investments.

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Navigating New Norms: The Response of LBO Financing to Post-Crisis Regulation and Market Shifts 

Co-authored with Ruediger Fahlenbrach and Sascha Steffen

Available on SSRN

ESG Ratings are Worse Than You Think

Co-authored with Kornelia Fabisik

Available upon request

Human Capital Dynamics in the Private Debt Market 

Co-authored with Victoria Ivashina and Zach Wallace-Wright