Hedge funds and private equity firms are plotting to lend to companies struggling with the fallout from the pandemic, or even buy stakes in them. The recent misfortune of American businesses — many of which are struggling to raise cash to stay afloat — is creating new moneymaking opportunities for hedge funds and private equity firms, big investors that have been relatively unscathed by the pandemic. With hundreds of billions of dollars sitting in reserve, these firms are plotting strategies to extend high-interest loans to companies, especially smaller, already troubled ones that banks have largely shunned over the past decade.