Private Debt Isn’t Out of the Woods From Pandemic, Varagon Says Related Stories April 20, 2021 March 22, 2021 March 5, 2021 While fundraising and deal activity in the $975 billion private debt market is ramping back up, the industry is still “not out of the woods” of the pandemic, according to Walter Owens, chief executive officer of Varagon Capital Partners. Paper covers the windows of a closed storefront on Madison Avenue in New York, U.S., “We have to be very careful of complacency, because complacency is what gets you into trouble,” Owens said in an interview. “We’re hopeful that the economy fully recovers, but we’re certainly not depending on a full economic recovery when we’re underwriting deals today.”