About the Event
KBRA Analytics Distressed Credit Outlook: Signals, Stress & Opportunity
November 10, 2026 | 8:00 AM - 12:30 PM EST
New York, NY
Join KBRA Analytics in New York on November 10 for a morning of market insights focused on distressed credit and evolving indicators across today’s markets. KBRA Analytics experts, market participants, and industry professionals will examine how investors are identifying early signs of deterioration, assessing the severity and trajectory of market stress, evaluating recovery prospects, and distinguishing broader concerns from idiosyncratic weakness. Across the program, the focus will be on the signals investors are watching today and what those indicators may tell us about the next stage of the credit cycle.
Discussion Topics
- Macro & Credit Outlook: Economic and credit trends shaping asset performance and expectations heading into 2027.
- Direct Lending: Defaults, restructurings, recoveries, and where distressed opportunities may emerge in 2027.
- Commercial Real Estate: Emerging CMBS stress, key drivers of deterioration, and the outlook across major property types.
- AI Infrastructure & Credit: How trillion-dollar AI commitments, rising capex, and off-balance-sheet obligations are reshaping corporate credit risk.
Where
Convene 117 West 46th Street
117 West 46th Street
*RSVP by October 27, 2026.
This event is closed to Press and Media. Registrations will be reviewed regularly. Email events@kbra.com for more information.
When you register for any of our events, we will send you emails about the event. With your consent, we use tracking pixels to collect certain information when you use and view our emails. For more information please see our Privacy Notice and Cookie Policy.
Register
Thanks for signing up!
Look out for exclusive updates soon.
Agenda
8:00 - 9:00 AM EST
Breakfast & Registration
9:00 - 9:10 AM EST
Opening Remarks
9:10 - 9:30 AM EST
Macro & Credit Outlook: Economic and Credit Trends Shaping Asset Performance
Speaker
Van Hesser, Chief Markets Strategist, KBRA
9:30 - 10:00 AM EST
Distressed for Success
Default Radar continues to grow despite modest default rates; Where do distressed investors see opportunities in 2027?
Direct lending defaults remain relatively modest but KBRA DLD's Default Radar continues to climb. DLD will examine activity across sponsored credits, the lower middle market and key sectors. Panelists will offer opinions on where the cracks are deepening, and how inflation and a return to rising interest rates would impact distressed investing opportunities next year.
10:00 - 10:40 AM EST
Beyond the Balance Sheet: The Credit Impact of Trillion-Dollar AI Commitments
How should credit investors assess the growing gap between conventional leverage measures and the enormous long-term commitments being made to secure AI infrastructure?
- Is traditional leverage still sufficient for evaluating hyperscaler credit?
- Uncommenced leases and off-balance-sheet AI infrastructure commitments
- Capex growth versus free cash flow and financial flexibility
- Which obligations are truly debt-like versus operating or contingent?
- Does AI utilization and monetization grow fast enough to support today's commitments?
- How should investors differentiate Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Oracle?
- What risks ultimately flow through to data center lenders and structured-finance investors?
10:40 - 11:00 AM EST
Demos & Networking Break
11:00 - 11:40 AM EST
Looking Past Delinquency: What the K-LOC Index Tells Us About CMBS Credit
- Go beyond traditional delinquency and special servicing metrics to examine CMBS credit stress through the lens of KCP’s K-LOC Index.
- Explore what is driving distress across the major CRE property types, including office, multifamily, retail, and lodging, and why the credit story differs significantly by sector, market, and individual asset.
- Follow distressed loans from identification through resolution, including modifications, extensions, asset sales, foreclosures, liquidations, and the growing role of price discovery.
- Look ahead to the next phase of the CMBS credit cycle, including the risks, trends, and market indicators KCP’s senior team will be watching over the next 12 months.
11:40 - 12:20 PM EST
AI Transformation: From Productivity Tool to Enterprise Operating Model
- How AI strategies have evolved from initial pilots to broader implementation, including key lessons learned and challenges to scaling adoption.
- Where AI is delivering the greatest impact across financial services, from improving productivity and automating workflows to unlocking proprietary data insights and creating operating efficiencies.
- How AI is reshaping financial intelligence, enhancing existing products, accelerating analysis, and creating new opportunities for delivering actionable insights to clients.
- Exploring emerging opportunities, organizational priorities, and barriers to adoption, including governance, security, human oversight, and the capabilities firms will need to succeed over the next several years.
12:20 - 1:30 PM EST
Grab and Go Lunch, Networking and Demos
KBRA Analytics Sales Team
Marc Iadonisi
Managing Director
KCP
+1 215-882-5877
marc.iadonisi@kbra.com
Niki Masino
Senior Director
KBRA DLD
+1 646-731-1387
niki.masino@kbra.com
Dan Doherty
Senior Director
KBRA Premium
+1 646-731-1314
daniel.doherty@kbra.com
KBRA Analytics Distressed Credit Outlook: Signals, Stress & Opportunity
November 10, 2026 | New York, NY
KBRA operates as an integrated platform of complementary businesses: KBRA Ratings, a full-service credit rating agency; and KBRA Analytics, a provider of financial data and market intelligence. Our offerings include KBRA Premium, providing subscribers full access to market-leading ratings, deep research and analytical tools; KBRA Direct Lending Deals (DLD), a dedicated source of news and analysis for originators and investors in the private credit market; KBRA Credit Profile (KCP) and other analytical services designed to deepen insight into credit trends, performance and risk dynamics. Collectively referred to as KBRA, these businesses support market participants with insights, credit opinions, and analytical tools to help them navigate evolving financial landscapes. Founded in 2010, KBRA was established to restore trust in credit ratings following the global financial crisis. We have since expanded our reach across asset classes and geographies while remaining grounded in our core values.
CONNECT WITH KBRA
© 2010- KBRA Holdings, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC is not affiliated with Kroll Inc., Kroll Associates Inc., KrollOnTrack Inc., or their affiliated businesses.