Blackstone Inc.’s main private credit fund stormed the investment-grade bond market to raise a combined $1.5 billion in a single day, adding to the rush of direct lenders trying to lock in cheaper financing costs.
The fund, known as BCRED, sold $1 billion of senior unsecured bonds on Wednesday, alongside a $500.5 million collateralized loan obligation backed by its own loans. The issuance marked BCRED’s first 10-year bond sale and was only the second such tenor ever issued by a business development company, after Ares Capital Corp.’s $700 million deal in 2021, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
As the cost of capital for private credit managers has tightened, institutional funds have flocked to the market to diversify funding options and meet direct lending demand. These lenders have also turned to CLOs, vehicles that repackage a number of loans into bonds, which are then sold off to investors.
The $1 billion offering was made up of $400 million of five-year bonds and $600 million of the 10-year bonds, Bloomberg reported. Both deals are expected to be rated investment grade by both Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings.
The top-rated tranche of the CLO priced at 1.5 percentage points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, tighter than the average private credit CLO tranche rated AAA issued this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A representative for Blackstone declined to comment.
Even as buyout activity has remained muted throughout most of the year, private credit funds have issued record levels of investment-grade debt. By the end of September, business development companies had already surpassed a 2021 record, selling $21.8 billion of investment-grade bonds, according to data from Deutsche Bank AG.
BCRED itself already issued $800 million of investment-grade bonds in September. Funds managed by Ares Management Corp., Blue Owl Capital Inc. and Sixth Street Partners have also issued bonds this year.
Barings LLC priced Europe’s first CLO backed by a pool of private credit debt this week. The €380 million ($400 million) vehicle was made up of nearly 50 senior secured, middle-market loans. So far this year, 67 middle-market and private-credit CLOs priced in the US, totaling $34.5 billion of new issuance.
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