From Reuters, March 6:
BlackRock said on Friday it has put limits on withdrawals from a flagship private credit fund after a surge in redemption requests, amid rising investor worries over the once red-hot asset class.
Shares of the world's largest asset manager fell 4.6% in early trading.Sentiment over private credit continues to worsen after Blue Owl replaced client redemptions with promised payouts, and the exposure of some players last year to the bankruptcies of a U.S. auto parts supplier and a subprime auto lender.Sentiment over private credit continues to worsen after Blue Owl replaced client redemptions with promised payouts, and the exposure of some players last year to the bankruptcies of a U.S. auto parts supplier and a subprime auto lender.Earlier this week, mounting requests prompted rival Blackstone to lift its usual 5% redemption limit to 7%, while the company and its employees invested $400 million to allow all requests to be met.BlackRock's $26 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund received withdrawal requests worth $1.2 billion in the first quarter, or roughly 9.3% of its net asset value........HPS said in a statement that the uncertainty presents an opportunity.
"In our judgment, preserving the fund's available capital to lean into this perceived opportunity set, while providing liquidity to shareholders consistently with the fund's designed parameters, is in the best interest of the fund as a whole," it said in a statement....
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