Strategic buyers drive financial services M&A as sponsors face AI disruption pressure
PE facing challenges on investment and exit sides; investment management maintains rising deal count, while sponsor appetite remains strong for insurance brokerages

Pace of improvement in credit quality slowing down – KBRA
KBRA’s second-quarter Private Credit Middle Market Compendium found evidence of mounting pressure building across the market, with median revenue and EBITDA compound annual growth rates declining to 12% and 24% respectively, from 13% and 27% in Q1

Private credit drives nearly half of Blackstone inflows in Q2
The alternative asset management giant said institutional investors are continuing to commit capital but also that redemption requests for its semi-liquid direct lending fund BCRED appear to be slowing

Golub adds managing director to European direct lending team
Timothée Delisle previously held positions at firms such as Morgan Stanley, Alcentra, BlackRock, and HSBC

Blackstone, Wellington and Vanguard collaborate on all-in-one private market vehicles for wealth channel
The three asset managers have launched two products that will give individual investors exposure to a mix of private market assets within a single allocation

Private credit secondaries deals more than doubled in 1H—Evercore
The first half of the year saw private credit secondaries volume balloon to USD 20bn, surpassing full-year 2025 volumes, with GP-led deals dominating, a new report from Evercore shows

Dispersion is creating value in credit despite tight spreads – PIMCO
PODCAST: While index spreads remain tight, dispersion is quite elevated, which rewards those who do the credit work, says Lotfi Karoui, multi-asset credit strategist at fixed-income behemoth PIMCO, on the latest episode of Credit Exchange with Lisa Lee

GoldenTree hits USD 2.75bn hard cap for sophomore private credit fund
The firm’s employees and partners committed USD 50m to the fund, the company announced

BlackRock private market inflows led by private credit as spreads widen
Institutional investors want to put more private credit money to work in this environment, the global asset management giant said on its earnings call

CalPERS posts 11% net return for private debt, improves funded status
The California Public Employees Retirement System, one of the largest institutional investors, released preliminary investment results for the 2025-2026 fiscal year

Most BDCs can survive liquidity stress test – Moody’s
Moody’s Ratings has conducted a stress test on the BDC sector which concluded that liquidity remains sound

Private credit and direct lending to grow their share of the loan market—LMA report
A new LMA survey of 234 loan market professionals found that 43% believe private credit and direct lending will grow their share of the EMEA loan market by 2040

Houlihan hires HarbourVest MD in GP-led secondaries push 
Dan Buffery joins the investment bank to help lead the firm’s North American GP-led secondaries advisory business

Strategic buyers increasingly facilitate exits of private credit lenders—Morningstar
The ratings agency observes in a new report that private credit borrowers sold to strategic buyers are starting to drive a larger portion of its credit ratings discontinuations

Nick Fall returns to Barclays as co-head of US leveraged finance capital markets
Fall, who joined the bank after a five-year stint at Goldman Sachs, officially started in the role this week

Texas, San Francisco among systems disclosing tactical, specialty credit investments
TCDRS commits USD 400m to Silver Point, Gallatin Point funds; Ohio pensions commit to GoldenTree, TPG funds

Silver Point hires Goldman MD for private credit origination
Michael Cote previously served as a managing director in Goldman Sachs’s leveraged finance business

Co-head of Permira Credit says to brace for more complex, late-cycle environment
PODCAST: While the market is clearly late in the credit cycle, it is not yet obviously at the turning point, Ariadna Stefanescu, co-head of Permira Credit tells Lisa Lee on on the latest episode of Credit Exchange

Cahill’s private credit co-head joins Paul Hastings in New York
Peter Williams, who also has experience as a managing director at KKR, now joins Paul Hasting’s global finance platform

Exit requests decline for Blue Owl’s semi-liquid tech lending fund
The fund, which saw some the highest exit request levels last quarter, reported a modest decrease and management says investor sentiment has improved.

Hayfin completes one of Europe’s largest private credit fundraises to date with EUR 15bn
Hayfin’s Direct Lending Fund V ranks among the largest ever direct lending fundraises completed in Europe, the company said

Blackstone to raise capital for new institutional IG private debt fund
The alternative asset management giant has launched its first institutional, commingled private fund focused on investment grade private debt investments

Coller and Cherry Bank to raise capital for private credit secondaries from Italian wealth market
Coller Capital has announced a distribution partnership with Cherry Bank to better sell its private credit secondaries investment product to affluent individuals in Italy

Vue loans jump, Getty Images loan falls after Shutterstock merger termination announcement – Market Comment
Vue International’s reinstated facilities have shown significant swings in the past two days, with its EUR 127.38m 1.5-lien term loan indicated at 120-mid today, following yesterday’s jump of over 16 points from 103.92-mid at the start of the week

First Brands lender Evolution moves to halt USD 25.7m receivables release amid ongoing collateral dispute
Evolution seeks to pause FBG’s request to release funds pending lien appeal outcome; lender claims release risks dissipating collateral and harming recovery if it wins appeal