Ares, Apollo Cap Private Credit Fund Withdrawals as Exodus Grows

Two of the biggest names in private credit, Ares Management Corp. and Apollo Global Management Inc., blocked investors from getting even half of the money they wanted out of their funds, a sign of mounting strain in the $1.8 trillion market.

The $10.7 billion Ares Strategic Income Fund limited withdrawals to 5% of shares after clients sought to redeem 11.6%, according to a letter to shareholders Tuesday. That followed the $15.1 billion business development company, Apollo Debt Solutions, which said Monday it was imposing the same cap after requests to pull 11.2%. Bloomberg's Paul Gulberg joins to discuss. Two of the biggest names in private credit, Ares Management Corp. and Apollo Global Management Inc., blocked investors from getting even half of the money they wanted out of their funds, a sign of mounting strain in the $1.8 trillion market.

The $10.7 billion Ares Strategic Income Fund limited withdrawals to 5% of shares after clients sought to redeem 11.6%, according to a letter to shareholders Tuesday. That followed the $15.1 billion business development company, Apollo Debt Solutions, which said Monday it was imposing the same cap after requests to pull 11.2%.

The redemption requests, larger on a percentage basis than those earlier this month from Blackstone Inc. and BlackRock Inc., suggest that investors are growing anxious about a liquidity squeeze in the illiquid private credit market.

The world’s largest alternative asset managers, which for years have fueled the private credit boom, are suddenly grappling with investors skittish about the industry’s lending practices and exposure to businesses vulnerable to artificial intelligence. The rapid pace of these requests has led to further questions about whether direct lending is suitable for investors who want occasional liquidity.

Money managers are handling the surge of negative sentiment in a variety of ways. Funds from Blue Owl Capital moved to sell assets and Blackstone Inc. injected employee cash to help meet redemption requests. For the most part, however, managers have limited redemptions and emphasized the benefits of doing so.

Read More: Private Credit Gate-Crashers Are Forcing Funds Into Brutal Spot

At one point on Tuesday, the latest wave of investor jitters wiped out $10.2 billion of market capitalization from the likes of Ares, Apollo and rivals Blackstone and KKR & Co. as shares of all four asset managers fell more than 2%.

Inflows Slow

At the same time, inflows into the asset class have slowed.

Weakening demand and more investors looking to cash out could constrain liquidity further for the fund, making it harder to underwrite new loans. Limiting redemptions could also increase negative sentiment. Investment in non-traded business development companies was down around 43% last month compared to the year prior, according to data from Robert A. Stanger.

Ares, for its part, emphasized that only a small portion of shareholders sought to redeem.

“Notably, the majority of repurchase requests were made by a limited number of family offices and smaller institutions in select geographies who represent less than 1% of our over 20,000 shareholders,” Ares said in its letter to shareholders.

Read more: Apollo Caps Private Credit Fund Withdrawals as Requests Jump (1)

The firm expects the granted redemptions to amount to roughly $524.5 million. Ares said the fund had around $5 billion of undrawn capacity, including debt facilities, repayments from existing investments, inflows and a performing liquid credit sleeve.

Some money managers are already indicating they’re ready for the strain to continue. Apollo Debt Solutions and Ares Strategic Income Fund both said they will offer withdrawals of up to 5% of shares again next quarter.

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