Increasing appetite for high yield bonds in the US market helped private equity firms to finance new deals and begin addressing their refinancing needs in the first quarter of the year, but lenders remain cautious, according to research from debt adviser Marlborough Partners.

According to Marlborough Partners' mid-market quarterly snapshot, about €22bn of high yield bonds were issued for European companies in both Europe and the US in the first quarter of the year, of which €10.1bn, or 46%, were issued in the US. Appetite for high yield bonds in the US remained stronger than in Europe in the first quarter, Marlborough Partners said.