The multi-trillion-dollar private credit market has been attracting headlines for months as alternative lenders respond to elevated redemption requests from their funds.
Some asset managers have capped withdrawals at the standard 5%-per-quarter limit. Meanwhile, some asset managers have allowed higher-than-normal redemptions from their private credit funds.
Here’s a summary of recent announcements.
Blue Owl Capital
On April 2, New York-based Blue Owl Capital Inc. told investors it was limiting withdrawals from two private credit funds after receiving a large volume of redemptions requests.
The firm said in letters to shareholders that it was capping redemptions from the US$36-billion Blue Owl Credit Income Corp. (OCIC) fund and the US$6-billion technology-focused Blue Owl Technology Income Corp. (OTIC) fund at 5% of fund shares.
This came after investors asked to withdraw 21.9% of shares in OCIC and 40.7% of shares in OTIC in the first quarter, amounting to roughly US$5.4 billion in total.
“Tender activity was elevated across the non-traded [business development companies] (BDC) industry in the first quarter of 2026, reflecting a period of heightened negative sentiment toward the asset class that intensified as peers have reported tender results,” Blue Owl CEO Craig Packer said in updates to shareholders.
“While we believe market perception has driven elevated tender activity, underlying credit fundamentals across our portfolio have remained resilient.”
The historic surge in redemption requests led Moody’s Ratings to downgrade its outlook for the OCIC fund to “negative” from “stable” on April 7. The rating agency cited significantly higher requests from investors to pull out of the fund in the first quarter, relative to funds offered by peers, according to a Reuters report. On the same day, Moody’s also revised its outlook for U.S. BDCs to “negative” from “stable,” amid heightened redemption pressures.
The move to cap redemptions from the OCIC and OTIC funds comes weeks after Blue Owl said it was selling US$1.4 billion in assets from three private credit funds, using some of the proceeds to pay down debt and return capital to investors. It also said it would decide how much one of the funds — the Blue Owl Capital Corp. II, which is marketed to retail investors — pays investors, instead of letting them ask to withdraw a set amount of their capital each quarter.
In response to those changes, economist Mohamed El-Erian questioned whether this was a “canary-in-the-coalmine moment, similar to August 2007?”
Blue Owl’s stock has shed more than half its value over the past year, alongside other alternative asset managers whose stocks have seen declines. Its debt fund announcements have caused reverberations across the private credit market, with spooked investors looking to flee from other debt funds as concerns mount about the market’s high exposure to software companies, opaque valuations and the potential for corporate defaults.
Apollo Global Management
Apollo Global Management Inc. said it’s limiting withdrawals from its US$25-billion flagship private credit fund as investors seek to flee the once-hot asset class.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 23, Apollo said that in the first quarter, it received redemption requests equal to 11.2% of outstanding shares in the Apollo Debt Solutions BDC, based on preliminary figures.
Apollo said it would honour redemption requests for just 5% of the fund’s shares, or roughly $730 million. In other words, each redeeming investor is expected to receive about 45% of their requested capital.
“The start of 2026 has brought heightened market volatility and increased scrutiny to private credit as an asset class, from product liquidity mechanisms, to carrying values for private investments, to the impact of technological innovation on different business models,” the asset manager told shareholders in its filing.
“Fortunately, none of this is new to us at Apollo.”
Ares Management
Ares Management Corp. joined its industry peers in limiting investor withdrawals from its private credit fund following a surge in redemption requests in the first quarter.
In a March 24 regulatory filing, the LA-based alternative investment manager said investors sought to redeem about 11.6% of the outstanding shares from the US$22-billion Ares Strategic Income Fund in the first quarter, which exceeded the fund’s 5% quarterly redemption framework.
Ares said it would buy back 5% of the shares, fulfilling about $525 million or 43.1% of the requested withdrawals.
It said it made this decision in line with “the best interests of the fund and all of our stakeholders, including the overwhelming majority of shareholders who remain invested as well as our lenders and bondholders.”
BlackRock
Even the world’s largest asset manager has not been spared the recent investor exodus from private credit.
In March, BlackRock Inc. said investors sought to pull out US$1.2 billion from the US$26-billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund, or 9.3% of its net asset value, in the first quarter, Reuters reported.
It said it would pay out US$620-million from the fund, adhering to its 5% quarterly redemption threshold.
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley announced that it was restricting redemptions from its US$8 billion North Haven Private Income Fund last month.
In a March 11 letter to investors, the New York-based firm said it was capping withdrawals at 5% of shares in the fund during the first quarter, in line with its quarterly redemption threshold. That’s well below the 10.9% investors asked to pull out from the fund.
On a pro-rated basis, the New York-headquartered firm said this amounts to approximately US$169 million or 45.8% of the total requested withdrawals.
“By maintaining appropriate limits on the quarterly purchase offer, the company seeks to avoid asset sales during periods of market dislocation and provide for conservative capital structure management through evolving market conditions,” the letter reads.
“We believe this approach supports portfolio optimization and aligns with the objective of maximizing risk-adjusted returns for investors over time.”
Cliffwater
Cliffwater LLC capped redemptions from its US$33-billion marquee Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund at 7% in the first quarter, honouring about half of the redemption requests it received.
The Marina del Ray, Calif.-headquartered alternative asset manager said a payout of 7% was a “regulatory maximum” in a letter signed by its founder and CEO, Stephen Nesbitt, Bloomberg reported.
Blackstone
Blackstone Inc. has taken a relatively flexible approach.
The New York-based asset manager increased its usual redemption-per-quarter limit to 7% from 5% after it said redemption requests totalled 7.9% of shares in its flagship US$82-billion private credit fund, known as BCRED, in the first quarter, according to a Reuters report. Blackstone and its employees invested US$400 million into the fund so that redemption requests could be met.
Investors were able to withdraw US$3.7 billion from the fund.