PE-Backed Companies Dominated Q1 2025 Debt Defaults

According to Fitch Ratings, 15 of the 23 leveraged loan and high yield debt defaults in Q1 were by private equity-owned companies. Portcos also dominated large bankruptcies.

Critics of over-leveraging practices in the private equity sphere have a new weapon to add to their arsenal — portfolio companies are accounting for a vast majority of debt defaults so far in 2025.