Distressed debt investors are circling the ailing U.S. economy, eager to pick clean the bones of fallen businesses that are expected to dramatically increase in numbers as the global pandemic rages on.

Bloomberg is reporting that Varde Partners, a distressed debt investment company, is anticipating a wave of business loan defaults in response to the economic chaos introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic, believing government aid won't be enough to save the vast majority of firms from insolvency. It is but one of several firms in this sector that have been preparing for the day when firms are forced to sell debt holdings at steep discounts, providing rock bottom bargains for investors like them.

The Wall Street Journal said that other firms running accelerated fundraising processes and launching new investment strategies to take advantage of the growing trouble in corporate debt include Goldman Sachs, Fortress Investment Group and Apollo Global Management, as well as numerous smaller firms. Financial data indicates that 59 different funds are seeking to raise more than $67 billion for such purchases, far more than what was raised for these reasons at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

The funds are likely reacting to analyses such as those produced by Moody's, which recently predicted that the default rate in high-yield corporate debt is expected to reach 14.4 percent by next year. Already, corporations have failed to honor tens of billions of dollars worth of outstanding obligations, and more are expected as the crisis goes on. The Federal Reserve, through the launch of its corporate credit facilities, is specifically trying to avert this outcome, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell, over the weekend, still predicted that the economic recovery will be a long and painful one, far from the V-shaped one many have been banking on.