The early days of the high-yield bond market marked a transformative period for the credit markets, laying the foundation for what is now a robust system that includes both high-yield bonds and leveraged loans. In the early 1980s, the idea of companies with low credit ratings being able to attract significant investment, for example savings and loan institutions (S&Ls), was groundbreaking.
Back then, out of thousands of American companies, only about 1,700 had investment-grade ratings. The rest, considered non-investment-grade companies, had no choice but to borrow from banks and insurance companies.
