Nomura, Jefferies, KKR and Macquarie all declined to comment. Golub didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Junk Newcomers

“We believe that our strong client relationships and innovative financing solutions will enable us to continue to be successful in the context of any regulatory environment,” Peter Nolan, an Antares senior managing director, said in an email.

Adding to the free-for-all, a number of names not necessarily associated with junk lending have cropped up as bookrunners, such as CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., the private equity arm of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. CPPIB declined to comment.

“Business is going to go wherever it can to get business done and that’s wherever the regulators are not,” said Danielle DiMartino Booth, founder of Quill Intelligence and a former adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas who also writes for Bloomberg Opinion.

Banks Rule

Despite the influx of rival lenders, regulated banks remain dominant. They also look ready to reclaim lost ground after the need to closely adhere to the leveraged-lending guidance that effectively ceased earlier this year. Deutsche Bank AG, for example, will dedicate roughly $16 billion for non-investment-grade debt from about $12 billion previously.

The business of leveraged loans is proving lucrative. Fees collected for arranging the deals hit a record $6.6 billion in the first half of 2018, and will reach an all-time high for the year if loan issuance continues at this pace, according to Freeman Consulting Services.

The leveraged-lending guidance, from the Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, cautioned that any buyout adding debt more than six times a firm’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization would attract scrutiny.

“While guidance is not binding and should not be the basis of supervisory action alone, it can outline safe and sound banking and risk-management principles and promote transparency and consistency in supervision across banks,” said Bryan Hubbard, an OCC spokesman. “Lending to leveraged borrowers still must be conducted in a safe and sound manner.” That includes lenders “maintaining an appropriate level of credit-loss reserves for that risk,” he said.