Heady affairs often end in tears. As Anthony Bolton, the UK's most celebrated fund manager, marked the succession at Fidelity this week he sounded a cautionary note about the current relationship between investors and the market. He warned that investors are not differentiating between higher- and lower-risk investments, and private equity groups can borrow on terms that are too lenient.

In particular, he highlighted the growth of "covenant-light" loans. Developed in the US over a year ago, these made their first appearance in Europe only very recently. "Cov-lite" instruments look like traditional syndicated loans but lack the legal clauses that allow investors to track the performance of the borrower or to declare a default if financial guidelines are missed. As such, a cov-lite loan is more like a bond, but without a credit rating to reflect the level of risk.