Answers · Glossary · live dataset

What is a covenant-lite loan?

A covenant-lite (cov-lite) loan has no financial maintenance covenants — the borrower is not tested each quarter against leverage or coverage ratios — leaving only incurrence covenants that apply when it takes a specific action such as adding debt or paying a dividend. Cov-lite terms are common in large syndicated loans; most middle-market private credit loans still carry at least one maintenance covenant. TerraNova does not tag covenant terms per fund.

Figures from the researched book · updated Sep 14, 2026 · refreshed daily · rendered Sep 15, 2026