It is fashionable to look at the relative dearth in recent bankruptcy activity and declare an end to the financial crisis's restructuring wave.

Not so fast, if you ask distressed-debt investors. One of them, Michael Tennenbaum, of Tennebaum Capital Partners, is bullish, so to speak, on distressed opportunities over the next few years. The reasons: lending is still constricted, a tsunami of debt maturities lurks and recent deals from the crazed high-yield bond market are unsustainable.

Many...