As a result of prevailing monetary conditions since the global financial crisis, the world has witnessed unprecedented growth in global corporate credit markets. Yet, despite the trillions of dollars put to work in the debt capital markets, corporate credit is still an unfamiliar concept to most investors compared to other asset classes, such as equities and commodities. Every red-top newspaper and 24-hour news service is happy to report the latest twitch in the Dow, FTSE or Stoxx indices but momentous moves in the iBoxx or iTraxx go unmentioned. And whereas many a talking head is happy to pose as an equity analyst, few feel comfortable venturing into the arcana of credit. Yet the corporate credit market, as the authors of this new book show, is both materially larger than its equity peer and has shown more attractive risk/ reward characteristics over the last 90-odd years. In Opening Credit, career credit professionals, Justin McGowan and Duncan Sankey, aim to redress this by drawing on their more than 50 years' collective experience in the field to elucidate a practitioner's approach to corporate credit investment. Whilst explaining the basics of traditional credit analysis and affirming its value, McGowan and Sankey also caution against its shortcomings. They demonstrate the need both to penetrate the veil of accounting to get to the economic reality behind the annuals and interim numbers and to analyse the individuals that drive them – the key executives and board members. They employ a range of cogent and easy-to-follow case studies to illustrate the value of their executive- and governance-led approach, which places management front and centre in understanding corporate credit. Opening Credit will appeal to all those seeking a better understanding of corporate credit, including analysts looking to develop their skills, fund managers (especially those with an eye to SRI), bankers, IFAs, financial journalists, academics and students of finance.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Credit: An Insider's View? - For whom is this book intended? - Objectives of this Book - Credit Analysis - The Gulf between Theory and Practice - What's the Matter with Traditional Credit Analysis as a Means of Making Money? - Prediction is Very Difficult, Especially About the Future I. Management and Governance. A Qualitative Overlay to Investment Decisions - Why does this matter? - The Nature of the Corporation - A Fundamental Ambiguity - The Corporation as a Legal Conceit - The Relationship between Senior Management and Corporate Identity - Good Credit Analysis Examines the C-Suite - Agency Outweighs Ownership - Alternative Ownership Models - Nothing's Perfect - Ownership is too Atomised to Exert Control - A Fundamental Change in the Power Dynamic - Regulatory Response - So Far, Largely Ineffectual - SarbOx - A Tentative Incursion into the Field - Regulatory Codes - Focus of Regulatory Responses - Regulation Likely to Remain Behind the Curve - Tying these Themes Together from a Credit Perspective II. Management and Governance Case Studies - Case Study I: Chesapeake Energy Corp. - Background - Changes to the Board - Boardroom Relationships Hinted at Risk Appetite - Case Study II. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc - The Shortcomings of Corporate Grandees - Another Dense Social Network - Think Global. Hire Local - Testing the Limits of Compartmentalisation - Key Governance Conclusions for Credit Assessment - Separation of Responsibilities - Remuneration Structures - Remuneration: Another Yellow Flag - Board Memberships: Independence and Expertise - Qualitative Investigation - Governance: A Crucial Supplement to the Financial Model III. Traditional Credit Analysis. A Framework for Relative Value - Overview of the discipline - 1. Economic Context - 2. Sovereign Risk - 3. Company Scale & Cyclicality - 4. Maturity and Growth Prospects - 5. Obsolescence and Substitution - 6. Capital, Asset and Labour Intensity - 7. Numbers Focus - Key Touchstones of Creditworthininess - 8. Cash Cycle and Seasonality - 9. Growth, Margin and Capital Formation - 10. Shareholders and Shareholder Activism - 11. Quantitative, Market-based Credit Systems - 12. Disclosure - 13. Relative Positioning on a Scale of Creditworthiness IV. How Managements Present Reality 1) Introduction - Reducing Credit to a Numbers Game - "Soft" Factors Can Predominate - But Numbers Can Still be Revealing 2) Manipulation of the Income Statement - Application of Management Discretion - Revenue and Expense Recognition - Revenue Recognition Red Flags - Growth of "Other" Assets - Changing Revenue Recognition Timings - Other Forms of Revenue Manipulation 3) Depreciation policy - Conventional Presentation - Depreciation Policy Abuse - Waste Management Inc. Garbage in, Garbage Out 4) Capitalisation of Income Statement Items - M&A Smokescreen - Royal Ahold 5) Auditors - Madoff - Olympus 6) Balance Sheet Analysis - Inventory Valuation - Nicor Inc - Fixed Asset Revaluation - China Forestry - First Energy 7) Cash Flow Analysis - Receivables Sales and Securitisation - Meritor Inc. - Leases : Capital vs. Operating - Cashflow from Asset Churning - Melia S.A. - Cash Flow from Goodwill Impairment - Caterpillar Inc. - Conclusion V. Behind the Numbers - Adjusted Debt, Liquidity and Non-Credit Factors - Introduction I. Adjustments for off-Balance Sheet Liabilities - Pension Deficits and OPEBs - Leases - Case Study: Leases. There's No Place Like Home - From Adjusted Debt to Adjusted Leverage II. Event Risk - Case Study: BP and the Macondo Oil Spill III. Liquidity Analysis - Case Study I: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company - Case Study II: Clear Channel Communications IV. Analysis of Non-Credit Factors that Drive Credit - LBO Case Study I: VNU/Nielsen - LBO Case Study II: TXU. Take a Walk on the Wilder Side VI. How Market Considerations Drive Credit - Why sound fundamental analysis may not make you a penny - Credit Markets are Large but Illiquid - Credit Default Swaps (CDS) - Market Impact of CDOs and CLOs - The Role of the Ratings Agencies - Case Study - Lafarge S.A. - Indexation and Total Return Investing - New Issues - Turning Analysis into Alpha - Instruments available to the Credit Investor - Relative Value Investing - Predicting the Default Horizon - Case Study - Aiful Corporation - Conclusions And Finally