Private Credit Funds and Firms 2026: Who Raised and Who Lends

227private credit firmsin Private Equity List

55in Europe29 in the UK

26new credit funds2026, to 16 October

$17.2Braised by themwhere the size is known

United States	132
United Kingdom	29
Canada	10
India	8
France	7
Hong Kong	5
Australia	5
Luxembourg	4
Switzerland	4

Source: Private Equity List database

Financial services	179
Healthcare services	136
Fintech	114
Real estate	105
Business services (B2B)	104
Energy	100

Source: Private Equity List database

What is private credit: loans from funds instead of banks

Private credit: loans that investment funds make directly to companies, outside banks and the public bond market.
Who borrows: mostly mid-sized companies, many of them owned by private equity firms, that want money faster or on terms a bank will not offer.
Who lends: private credit funds raise money from pension funds, insurers and endowments, lend it out and pass the interest back to those investors.
Private debt: another name for the same market. Direct lending, where a fund lends straight to one company, is one strategy inside it.

What private credit pays: about 10% a year in 2025

What lenders earn: US middle-market direct loans paid 10.4% in interest income in 2025 and returned 9.3% for the year, by the Cliffwater Direct Lending Index of about 21,000 loans (Cliffwater).
Versus bank loans: the extra spread private credit charges over syndicated leveraged loans has narrowed to below 200 basis points in recent years (Federal Reserve).
Floating rate: almost all private credit loans are floating rate, so the interest a borrower pays moves with base rates (Federal Reserve).
Market size: private credit reached nearly $1.7 trillion, about half of it direct lending (Federal Reserve).
Who invests: pension funds hold about 31% of private credit fund assets; insurers and individual investors about 9% each (Federal Reserve).

Biggest private credit funds of 2026: HarbourVest, Oaktree and Nuveen

• HarbourVest Partners reportedly raised $2.4B for its private credit secondaries strategy, which buys stakes in existing credit funds from the investors who hold them.
• Oaktree Capital Management closed its first Asset-Backed Finance Fund at its $2B target, with US public pension plans and sovereign wealth funds among the backers. The money goes to loans against equipment leases, transportation, consumer finance, real estate and infrastructure.
• Nuveen held a $700M first close for its latest Australian commercial real estate debt fund.
• Claret Capital Partners raised €575M ($632.5M) for its fourth fund. The London firm lends to European growth companies that want capital without selling more equity.
• Granite Asia passed the $500M target of its pan-Asia private credit strategy.
• Allianz Global Investors held a $270M first close for an Asia-Pacific infrastructure credit fund.
• Lendable closed its second MSME fintech credit fund at $255M. Its loans go to fintech companies in emerging markets.
• Orbit Capital closed Growth Debt Fund II at €107M ($117.7M) for scale-ups in Central and Eastern Europe.

Also new in 2026: Private Equity List records Monroe Capital's $2.8B Private Credit Fund V, Arcmont's $1.65B Capital Solutions Fund II, Sound Point's $1.5B Strategic Capital Fund III, Brigade's $1B Private Credit Solutions Fund, Nuveen Green Capital's $1B C-PACE lending fund IV, Eagle Point's $559M Defensive Income Fund III and Canyon Partners' $400M CLO Fund IV.

Largest private credit firms: Blackstone, Apollo, KKR and Ares

The biggest firms that run private credit are multi-strategy managers. Ranked by total assets under management on their Private Equity List profiles; credit is one part of each total.

#	Firm	Headquarters	Assets under management, all strategies
1	Blackstone	New York	$1.3T
2	Apollo Global Management	New York	$908B
3	KKR	New York	$700B
4	Ares	Los Angeles	$622B
5	The Carlyle Group	Washington	$475B
6	Barings	Charlotte	$442B
7	Blue Owl Capital	New York	$307B
8	Oaktree Capital Management	Los Angeles	$205B
9	HPS Investment Partners	New York	$193B
10	Sixth Street	San Francisco	$135B
11	Antares Capital	Chicago	$95B
12	Benefit Street Partners	New York	$93B
13	Golub Capital	New York	$90B

Credit specialists: of the 13, HPS, Sixth Street, Antares, Benefit Street Partners and Golub Capital are built mainly around lending.
Left out: multi-asset managers such as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management also run credit funds, but their totals are mostly other assets, so they would distort a ranking of private credit firms.

Private credit firms to know in the US and Europe

Firm	Headquarters	What it lends
Blackstone	New York	Credit, alongside real estate, private equity and infrastructure
Apollo Global Management	New York	Credit and other flexible capital across market cycles
Blue Owl Capital	New York	Loans to companies with and without a private equity owner
HPS Investment Partners	New York	Credit across the capital structure
Golub Capital	New York	Unitranche loans to sponsor-backed companies, a format it pioneered
Sixth Street	San Francisco	Direct lending, plus energy, infrastructure and real estate financing
Oaktree Capital Management	Los Angeles	Credit strategies, including asset-backed finance
Antares Capital	Chicago	Middle-market loans, backed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Churchill Asset Management	New York	Financing for US middle-market private equity firms and their companies
Monroe Capital	Chicago	Direct lending, venture debt and structured credit in the US and Canada
Benefit Street Partners	New York	Direct lending, structured credit and real estate debt
Hercules Capital	Palo Alto	Venture loans to life sciences and technology companies
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG)	London	Flexible capital for growing companies, since 1989
Arcmont Asset Management	London	Private debt across Europe, an early mover in the market
Hayfin Capital Management	London	Direct lending, special opportunities and hybrid capital
Pemberton Capital Advisors	London	Loans to mid-sized European companies, through ten offices
Kartesia	Leudelange	Lending to lower mid-market companies across Europe
Orbit Capital	Prague	Venture debt in Central and Eastern Europe

More private credit lenders by region

Firms beyond the two tables above, chosen from the debt funds in Private Equity List whose profiles describe credit as a main business. The debt funds list has all 227.

Private credit lenders in the United States

132 of the 227 firms are in the US. These ten specialise in credit, from middle-market loans to special situations, and all ten are listed at $100M or more.

Firm	City	Cheque size	What it lends
AGL Credit Management	New York	$100M+	Corporate credit, launched in 2019
Audax Private Debt	New York	$100M+	Tailored debt for middle-market companies
Brigade Capital Management	New York	$100M+	Credit investments for institutions
Canyon Partners	Dallas	$100M+	Corporate, structured and real estate credit
Centerbridge Partners	New York	$100M+	Private credit next to private equity and real estate
Crescent Capital Group	Los Angeles	$100M+	Corporate credit, exclusively
Marathon Asset Management	New York	$100M+	Public and private credit
MidCap Financial	Bethesda	$100M+	Flexible debt for middle-market companies
Silver Point Capital	Greenwich	$100M+	Direct lending, capital solutions and real estate lending
Sound Point Capital Management	New York	$100M+	Credit strategies, over $44B in assets

Private credit lenders in the UK and London

29 firms, nearly all in London. ICG, Arcmont, Hayfin and Pemberton are in the table above; these eight add NAV finance (17Capital), lower mid-market debt (Apera, Beechbrook) and lending in emerging markets (Lendable).

Firm	City	Cheque size	What it lends
17Capital	London	$100M+	NAV finance: loans to private equity funds
Park Square Capital	London	$100M+	Senior and subordinated debt, mid-market direct loans
Apera Asset Management	London	$50–100M	Private debt for lower mid-market companies in Western Europe
Lendable	London	$50–100M	Asset-backed capital for financial companies in emerging markets
Beechbrook Capital	London	$10–50M	Private debt for lower mid-market companies
Cheyne Capital	London	$10–50M	Credit, real estate and equities
Pollen Street Capital	London	$10–50M	Private credit and equity in financial services and technology
Arini	London	$5–10M	Public and private credit, focused on Europe

Private credit lenders in Europe

26 firms, led by France, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Kartesia and Orbit Capital are in the table above; these five add Copenhagen, Madrid, Zurich, Amsterdam and Paris.

Firm	City	Cheque size	What it lends
BlueOrchard	Zurich, Switzerland	$50–100M	Impact debt in more than 100 countries, owned by Schroders
Colesco Capital	Amsterdam, Netherlands	$50–100M	Private credit for climate-tech scale-ups
Capital Four	Copenhagen, Denmark	$10–50M	Credit asset manager
Tresmares Capital	Madrid, Spain	$10–50M	Financing across the capital structure for SMEs
Trocadero Capital Partners	Paris, France	$10–50M	Equity and debt for European SMEs

Private credit lenders in Asia-Pacific and Canada

40 firms outside the US and Europe, led by Canada, India, Hong Kong and Australia. Metrics Credit Partners in Sydney describes itself as one of Asia's largest specialist private debt investors.

Firm	City	Cheque size	What it lends
ASK Alternates	Mumbai, India	$100M+	Private credit, part of the Blackstone-backed ASK group
Qualitas	Melbourne, Australia	$100M+	Real estate credit and equity
SC Lowy	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	$100M+	Private credit and opportunistic lending, Asia-Pacific and Middle East
Ascertis Credit	Singapore, Singapore	$50–100M	Growth capital loans in India and Southeast Asia
Neo Asset Management	Mumbai, India	$50–100M	Private credit, real assets and core credit in India
Tor Investment Management	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	$50–100M	Alternative credit in Asia
Fiera Private Debt	Laval, Canada	$10–50M	Secured loans
Metrics Credit Partners	Sydney, Australia	$10–50M	Direct corporate lending, acquisition and real estate finance
Northleaf Capital Partners	Toronto, Canada	$10–50M	Mid-market private credit, private equity and infrastructure

Private equity lenders: direct lending to buyouts and the middle market

Who they are: direct lenders that finance private equity buyouts, mostly of middle-market companies. Golub Capital, Antares, Churchill and Audax Private Debt lend this way in the US; Arcmont, Pemberton and Kartesia in Europe.
Unitranche: one loan that replaces separate senior and junior debt. Churchill, Brightwood and CVI offer it; more in our guide to private equity lenders.
Middle market: companies with $10M–$1B of annual revenue; the average private credit loan has been above $80M since 2022 (Federal Reserve).

Private credit strategies: what the funds lend against

Direct lending: loans straight to mid-sized companies, often owned by private equity. Golub Capital, Antares and Churchill lend this way in the US; Arcmont, Pemberton and Kartesia in Europe.
Asset-based finance: loans secured on assets such as equipment, leases and consumer loans. Oaktree's first fund for this strategy closed at $2B in 2026.
Mezzanine and junior debt: loans that rank after senior debt and before equity. HPS Investment Partners, Audax Private Debt and Churchill run mezzanine funds; 59 firms are in our guide to mezzanine lenders.
Venture and growth debt: loans to venture-backed companies that would rather not sell more equity. Hercules Capital, Claret and Orbit Capital work here; 37 firms are in our guide to venture debt lenders.
CLOs and structured credit: pools of company loans sold to investors in slices. Canyon Partners added a $400M CLO fund this year.
Real estate and infrastructure credit: loans against buildings and projects. Nuveen, Cheyne Capital and Allianz Global Investors raised such funds in 2026.
Credit secondaries: buying existing stakes in credit funds. HarbourVest's $2.4B strategy is the largest 2026 example in Private Equity List.

Private credit vs private equity: lending to a company or owning part of it

Private equity: a fund buys a stake, often control, and earns its return when it sells the company.
Private credit: a fund lends money, takes no ownership and earns interest until the loan is repaid.
Same firms, different funds: Blackstone, Apollo, KKR, The Carlyle Group and Bain Capital run both private equity and credit funds.
For a founder or adviser: credit keeps the cap table as it is, but the company needs steady cash flow to pay the interest.

How to find private credit lenders for a deal

Start with the type: the Debt funds list in Private Equity List holds all 227 firms.
Narrow it down: in search, filter by sector, headquarters and cheque size. 52 of the firms write cheques of $100M or more and 100 write $10–50M.
Check who just raised: a fund that closed this year has money to lend. The new funds tracker lists each one as it is announced.
Reach the team: profiles list partners and investment staff with their roles. CSV export comes with the Pro+ plan.
Deal by deal: independent sponsors, who buy companies one deal at a time without a fund, raise debt from these lenders for each deal; see independent sponsors.
Compare data sources: for what PitchBook, Preqin and other databases cover and cost, see our investor database comparison.

Data and methodology

Firms: the 227 are Private Equity List profiles tagged as debt funds, counted on 17 October 2026; the lenders in the tables were checked against each profile's description. Headquarters, cheque size and assets under management are as on each profile.
Funds: fund records and verified announcements from the Private Equity List new-funds tracker, with sizes as announced.
Yields and market size: not Private Equity List data; they come from Cliffwater and the Federal Reserve, linked in the text.