"We have a discriminating nature to the deals we have done, and we look atthem as if we hold the credits on our own balance sheet," Paul Calello, head ofCredit Suisse's investment bank, said at a press conference here.
Calello emphasized however that Credit Suisse always seeks to syndicate, orparcel out, the loans, not hold them itself.
His comments came in the context of the dramatic slowdown in leveraged loans,the typical mechanism for most private equity deals.
Calello acknowledged the market "pushback" for leveraged loans. He said theturmoil represents a mismatch of supply and demand which is likely to workitself out through the market, possibly with a change in pricing.
Credit Suisse in the second quarter ranked third among internationalinvestment banks in terms of volume of financing arranged for private equity-sponsored deals, according to data from Dealogic. Calello said that the bankhasn't so far this year found itself left with any such loan that it provedimpossible to syndicate.
Going forward, the bank has made commitments for certain loans for buyoutdeals, without yet funding them. It will be judging the market later this yearto see how well they can be syndicated, he said.
Leveraged finance is in focus with investment banking earnings after thesegment last week slowed dramatically amid a pullback in investors' appetite forrisk. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cautioned that some banks have sufferedlosses for underwriting positions but subsequently being unable to syndicatethem.
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-By Katharina Bart, Dow Jones Newswires; +41 43 443 8043; katharina.bart@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
