Cooler heads

Debt markets haven’t melted down. But they’re playing with fire. Bankers who sell buyout related junk bonds and loans are being snubbed by increasingly risk-averse investors. Chronic subprime mortgage woes and the huge amount of buyout debt in the pipeline – estimated at over $200bn in the US alone – has spooked lenders, who are flexing their muscles and rejecting iffy deals. But they’re walking a fine line. If they push too hard, what’s now a healthy correction could become a rout. That could ...