Heidrick & Struggles’ Elisabetta Bartoloni speaks with Stephen Spencer, managing director of Houlihan Lokey’s financial restructuring group, about the differences between this recession and the previous one in terms of fiscal policy as well as the resulting debate about the shape of the recovery. According to Spencer, the two questions for companies now are whether or not they borrowed enough to sustain themselves through the duration of the recovery and whether or not they will then be able to service the debt obligations they’ve undertaken. Spencer also discusses how the CLO market has changed the corporate restructuring dynamic and emphasizes how critical it is to leverage relationships across teams and companies, particularly in times of extreme stress or hard negotiation.

About the interviewer

Elisabetta Bartoloni (ebartoloni@heidrick.com) is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ New York office and a member of the Financial Services Practice; she leads the Global Markets Practice for the Americas.