Platform extension in private credit: growth, granularity and governance

The evolution of private credit is being driven by two parallel trends: platform expansion and product specialisation. 

Many franchises that began with a focus on relatively straightforward direct lending centred around one or two flagship commingled vehicles, are now evolving into increasingly modular platforms with a growing range of specialist credit strategies spanning direct lending, asset-based finance, opportunistic credit, special situations, fund finance and secondaries. This has been paired with a contemporaneously expansion in the spectrum of fund structuring products available for investors beyond the traditional closed-ended commingled fund, including separately managed accounts (SMAs), evergreen and semi-liquid vehicles, co-investment programmes, rated note feeders and other insurance-oriented or private-wealth oriented structures.