Rich Americans Invest $48bn in Private Credit; Blackstone Leads

Private credit funds have drawn $48bn from wealthy Americans in H1 2025, already exceeding total inflows for 2023. Blackstone’s flagship Bcred fund leads with $73bn in assets under management after raising $6.5bn this year. Other evergreen vehicles also saw robust growth: Cliffwater’s fund reached $30bn with $11bn raised, Apollo Debt Solutions raised $6.4bn, Blue Owl secured $7bn, and Ares Management drew $5bn. In Europe, similar vehicles doubled assets to €24bn by June 2025. Analysts say this shift from banks to pension funds and affluent individuals marks private credit as a key growth frontier. Critics warn that the opaque, illiquid nature of private credit and its “shadow banking” role could heighten liquidity and transparency risks, especially if redemption requests spike.