JAKARTA – Blackstone has limited withdrawals from its flagship private credit fund after investor redemption requests increased during the second quarter of 2026.
The move follows similar actions by several global asset managers that have faced a surge in redemption requests across the private credit sector.
As reported by Reuters, investors requested withdrawals equivalent to 10% of holdings in Blackstone Private Credit Fund (BCRED), which manages USD 79 billion in assets. The figure was up from 7.9% in the previous quarter.
However, Blackstone approved withdrawals only up to the 5% limit, in line with the standard terms commonly applied to similar investment products.
The increase in redemption requests suggests that wealthy individual investors are continuing to reduce their exposure to private credit assets after years of allocating substantial capital to instruments that are not actively traded.
Earlier this year, for the first time in the history of the asset class, investor outflows exceeded new inflows into private credit products.
In the first quarter, Blackstone temporarily increased withdrawal limits to meet all investor requests. The company even deployed internal capital alongside contributions from some employees to help provide liquidity.
This time, however, Blackstone opted to maintain the withdrawal cap and stressed that the mechanism is a core feature of a long-term investment product.
“The BCRED structure is a fundamental feature whereby investors exchange some liquidity at certain times for stronger long-term performance,” Blackstone said in a statement.
Analysts said the increase in redemption requests remains within the range anticipated by the market.
However, they warned that slowing demand from new investors poses a greater challenge for the private credit industry.
Analysts at Evercore said the 10% redemption request figure was still better than the market’s worst-case expectations.
“We think 10% is better than feared,” Evercore analysts wrote in a note.
A lack of new investors resulted in BCRED recording net outflows of around 3% during the period.
“The significant slowdown in gross sales this quarter is a larger and more persistent issue, in our view, both for BCRED and for the industry,” Evercore said.
Despite the increase in redemption requests, Blackstone shares surged 8% in Thursday trading. Several comparable firms also posted gains as markets judged that fund liquidity conditions remained under control.
Blackstone said its repayment structure had been aligned with the expected repayment cycle of portfolio investments, allowing it to preserve capital for attractive investment opportunities.
“In line with expected investment realisation cycles, while preserving capital to be deployed in an attractive market environment,” the company said.
BCRED said its capital position remains strong. A combination of loan repayments and fund inflows continues to exceed the share repurchases carried out by the company.
Since its launch, BCRED Class I shares have generated an average annual return of 9.3%, around 50% higher than leveraged loan instruments.
Blackstone also reported stronger fundraising across several other investment products aimed at wealthy individual investors.
Meanwhile, some asset managers, including Blue Owl, have reported that investor interest is beginning to shift towards other sectors, including real estate, amid declining enthusiasm for private credit.
Market participants are now monitoring the results of second-quarter withdrawal periods across various non-traded private credit funds in the United States, which will conclude throughout June. (DH/ZH)
as a preferred source on Google