Europe’s high-yield debt market has begun a period of growth and the region’s law firms are poised to increasingly pick up mandates in the US-dominated sector. Shearman & Sterling’s Ward McKimm and Rebecca Marques report
Last year was very busy for issuers and underwriters of high-yield debt securities and the lawyers who act for them. After closing down in August of 2007, the high-yield market in Europe re-opened in the latter half of 2009 and became increasingly busy in the following months. In 2010, global new issuances of high-yield debt securities reached an all-time high of approximately $317bn (£196bn), up from $189bn (£117bn) in 2009.
