"Investment-grade financing this year alone has surpassed $100 billion," says Ioana Barza, vice president and senior market analyst at Thomson Reuters LPC, as she discusses the state of the debt markets for leveraged buyouts with The Deal Pipeline. "If you compare the last two years, it's been about $40 billion each year, so really powerful, with a lot of issuance ... so banks are really hungry for these types of assets." Barza goes on to outline the role of large bridge loans in megadeals this year such as AT&T Inc.-T-Mobile USA Inc. and Express Scripts Inc.-Medco Health Solutions Inc. - George White