General Discussion

Investment management firm BlackRock BLK -7.17% ▼ has imposed limits on withdrawals from one of its flagship private credit funds after several investors rushed to pull money, marking another sign of stress in a sector that had been booming just a year ago. Following the news, BLK stock declined 6% on Friday.

The sell-off spilled into the broader private equity sector, with Blue Owl Capital OWL -5.04% ▼ down 4.1%, KKR KKR -4.46% ▼ off 4%, Carlyle Group CG -5.36% ▼ down 3.7%, Apollo Global Management APO -2.28% ▼ slipping 3.2%, and Ares Management ARES -6.01% ▼ falling 4.6%.

The firm disclosed that its $26 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund received $1.2 billion in redemption requests in the first quarter, about 9.3% of its net asset value.

Because the fund’s structure allows only 5% of assets to be redeemed in a quarter, BlackRock will pay out $620 million and defer the remaining requests, activating its withdrawal limit mechanism.

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https://www.tipranks.com/news/investor-rush-to-exit-hits-blackrock-blk-as-it-limits-withdrawals-stock-drops-6

The one of interest to me is Blue Owl …

That is definitely troubling

Blue Owl has $48 million exposure to collapsed UK property lender, Bloomberg News reports

March 6 (Reuters) - Alternative asset manager Blue Owl has a 36 million pound ($48 million) exposure to Century Capital Partners Ltd, a London-based property lender that entered administration last month, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

The U.S. private-credit firm, which manages $307 billion in assets, financed the riskiest slice of loans originated by Century, a bridging lender focused on high-end central London property, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Century entered administration with about 95 million pounds of total debt, days before a larger rival, Market Financial Solutions, fell into a UK form of insolvency, according to the report.

Both companies relied on funding lines from private credit firms and banks to originate short-term property loans for borrowers who often cannot secure traditional bank financing, typically at higher interest rates, Bloomberg News reported, and added that Century had not been accused of fraud by any creditor.

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