Our Legal Insights Blog

When considering what to write for my 2026 outlook – what helpful information I could impart – I realized that LMEs, litigation and market factors will all be covered in our Knowledge Series events for January with our guests Shan Qureshi and Jeanine Arnold, and much better than I could do alone.

2025 marked a pivotal shift in leveraged finance, with borrowers aggressively testing liability management exercises (LMEs), courts issuing landmark rulings on uptier transactions, and lenders mainstreaming protective "blockers" in documentation. The year finished with a bang as Altice USA followed Selecta’s lead in taking legal action against cooperation agreements – setting up 2026 to be a transformative year for the leveraged finance market.

Yesterday marked our 12th in-person event at The Ned, and we wrapped our newest course, an exploration of an investigative journalist’s approach to financial diligence featuring a case study on the First Brands situation. Rob Smith, Corporate Finance Editor at The Financial Times and the journalist who broke the story, shared with FLT guests his approach to uncovering corporate fraud – a process backed by a long list of discoveries from Abengoa to Casino to Greensill, and most recently, First Brands. In this blog, I share some of the key insights from the day – and introduce the newest special offer from FLT.

FLT is delighted to present our newest course: Following the Money: Lessons from an investigative journalist on First Brands, which will take place on November 19th at The Ned in London, presented by Rob Smith, the jorurnalist who broke the story for The FT. effective credit analysis combines legals and financials, and a solid downside risk assessment must consider the four corners of the financial statements.

Covenants have grown more complex with every market cycle. Since the Global Financial Crisis, borrower flexibility has expanded, terms have converged across instruments, and the legal language underpinning leveraged finance has become increasingly technical. The result? A landscape where instruments are converging, terms are evolving, and professionals need legal fluency to keep pace. That's why Fox Legal Training has developed its newest course, our Leveraged Loan Covenant Training (LLCT).

Leveraged finance contracts are complex. Multiple instruments are often used in the same deal, and the interplay between agreements can be difficult to untangle. For many credit professionals, it can be a daunting task. Where do you begin? How can you tell what really matters? That’s why FLT has launched its new course: How to Analyze any Leveraged Finance Contract.

FLT’s recent Knowledge Series webinar with Shan Qureshi from Octus Intelligence illustration how dramatically the liability management and restructuring landscape has evolved in the past decade – and why understanding legal documentation has never been more critical.

The Ardagh recapitalisation is moving quickly and for those following the European leveraged finance space, it’s certainly one to watch. Creditors are seizing control, Paul Coulson is stepping aside and the mechanics of the deal are unfolding in real time. For lenders, the takeaway is that documentation and legal levers can matter just as much as the financials. Here is a summary of what is happening and why it matters from a lender’s perspective.