The record
Bond issuance is up over 20% this year.
We are likely to see US investment grade bond issuance of over $2 trillion this year (with similar trends around much of the world). The record before this was the 2020 low rates boom – with $1.9 trillion.
This is largely on the back of large AI-infrastructure buildout, a low-intervention antitrust environment increasing M&A financing, and bank deregulation increasing issuance from banks. Issuance from all three segments is likely to be significantly different next year – particularly after the Democratic Party won control of both the House and the Senate.
This has been a similarly strong year across asset classes – private credit, syndicated loans, and structured finance.
Fee pools across investment bank DCM desks, capital markets law firms, and investment managers have been similarly high.
There is a (high probability) scenario that issuance next year will be much lower. The trouble is that desk budgets will inevitably be largely based on 2026 revenues.
In this article, we explore this and look at the high-fee opportunities that exist in 2027 – and how to go after these now.
