LONDON, 09 March. - (ANA) - The world’s largest asset manager BlackRock has limited withdrawals from a flagship debt fund after a surge in redemption requests, as investors worries on the private credit industry grow.

 

Blackrock’s shares tumbled 7.1 per cent on Friday following the announcement, closing at $955.45 (£713.37), amid a broader market sell off after worse than anticipated US jobs data and escalating US-Israel military actions against Iran.

 

Sentiment surrounding private credit has soured over recent months leading retail investors to increasingly ask for their money back from funds, including Blackrock’s $26bn HPS Corporate Lending Fund, designed to be opened by wealthy individuals.

 

Investors have rushed for the exit as they become increasingly fearful that the software and technology firms that make up a large portion of the industry’s loan portfolios are uniquely vulnerable to be replaced or disrupted by artificial intelligence. 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this week, mounting requests prompted rival Blackstone to lift the usual five per cent redemption limit on its$82bn BCRED fund.

 

The world’s largest alternative asset manager will allow investors to redeem 7.9 per cent of shares from the fund, the equivalent of $3.8bn.

 

The company and its employees invested $400m to allow all requests to be met.

 

Funds like Blackstone’s BCRED are “semi-liquid,” meaning they are designed to be held for years but offer small windows for investors to exit.

 

o prevent a “run on the fund” that would force the manager to sell off long-term loans at a loss, vehicles typically cap redemptions at five per cent of the fund’s total value per quarter.

 

But managers often have the discretion to “upsize” these offers to satisfy high demand and signal to the market that they have more than enough cash on hand to handle the pressure.

 

Meanwhile, Blue Owl bought back 15.4 per cent of one of its funds in January.  

 

 

 

 

The scramble has caused a series of financial bigwigs to speak out, with Goldman Sachs’ boss through the financial crisis, Lloyd Blankfein, warning he “smells” signs of another financial crisis.

 

Blankfein said:  “I don’t feel the storm, but the horses are starting to whinny in the corral.”

 

He specifically criticised private credit lenders for their recent moves to encourage retail access, opening complex investments to everyday savers, at a time when market conditions are becoming increasingly unstable.

 

In the UK, the private credit market is estimated to have grown by 56 per cent since 2015 to $185bn making it the second largest after the US, according to a recent report by the House of Lords. - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/09 March 2026 - - -