Another Day, Another Private Credit Fund Takes A Shit

While the world remains distracted by the Iran war...

While the world remains distracted by the Iran war, yet another private credit fund has frozen redemptions. I’m starting to lose count of how many funds have done this so far this year — and it’s only going to get worse in my opinion. Reuters reported this morning:

Asset manager Barings capped redemptions at one of its private credit funds at 5% of shares after investors sought to withdraw 11.3% in the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.

Private credit funds have grappled with high redemption requests in recent months as jittery retail investors bolt for the door amid concerns over transparency, valuations and artificial intelligence-related disruption.

Remember, I also noted just days ago that Blue Owl Capital Inc. is now limiting redemptions from two of its flagship private credit funds after facing what Bloomberg described as “unprecedented” withdrawal requests in the $1.8 trillion market.

If anything, this is just the beginning. As we move into Q2, expect more massive redemption requests across private credit vehicles as investors begin to fully digest what gating actually means in practice. This is an excellent chart from Zero Hedge that they posted yesterday. The red lines show just how redemption requests have grown in Q1 of this year from Q3 and Q4 of last year. Expect the Q2 line, when it happens, to be just as ugly.

As I’ve said, once one fund limits withdrawals, it doesn’t calm nerves—it accelerates the exit impulse elsewhere. I still think this will get much worse before it gets better. Psychology is permanently broken in private credit for the foreseeable future.

Jamie Dimon said today in his annual letter he doesn’t see private credit as systemic. As I’ll note later today, I can’t say that I agree with him — and I’m not certain he has enough transparency to even make that call right now. It reminds me of Bernanke saying “subprime is contained” days before we found out that…well..it wasn’t.

Tracking the private credit meltdown:

• April 2, 2026 - Blue Owl hit with “unprecedented” withdrawal requests

• March 31, 2026 - WSJ reports that software exposure among private credit funds is larger than disclosed

• March 27, 2026 - Cracks in private credit reach UBS Real Estate fund, forced to suspend withdrawals

• March 24, 2026 - Ares restricts withdrawals on its Strategic Income Fund after redemption requests hit 11.6%

• March 23, 2026 - Apollo caps withdrawals on its $25 billion Apollo Debt Solutions vehicle after redemptions hit 11%

• March 19, 2026 - Stone Ridge’s Alternative Lending Risk Premium Fund gates redemptions after overwhelming redemption requests

• March 16, 2026 - Apollo co-president says that “all” marks in parts of the private markets industry are “wrong”

• March 11, 2026 - Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater cap redemptions in $8 billion, and $33 billion funds, respectively

• March 6, 2026 - BlackRock begins limiting withdrawals from its $26 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund

• March 3, 2026 - Blackstone faces “record” redemptions from its flagship private credit vehicle, investors sought to redeem 7.9% of fund’s $82B in assets

• February 19, 2026 - Blue Owl restricts redemptions from its retail private credit fund

• January 26, 2026 - Blackrock takes 19% markdowns on TCP Capital Corp.

• December 17, 2025 - Blue Owl walks away from $10 billion data center deal for Oracle

• October 15, 2025 - QTR warns private credit is one of 10 areas of the market that I would avoid heading into 2026

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