Private Credit Summit | New York
At the 2025 Private Credit Summit, hosted in New York by Dechert, ING and KBW/Stifel, Dechert partner and permanent capital practice co-head Bill Bielefeld moderated an esteemed panel consisting of Suzanne Clarke, general counsel at Centerbridge, Andrew Gosden, partner at Apollo, Brent Humphries, president of AB Private Credit Investors Corporation, and Lindsay Trapp, partner at Dechert. The panelists discussed the growing interest in private credit as an asset class, the current state of product offerings and key differentiators, and their expectations for future developments driven by investor appetite and the changing regulatory and distribution landscapes.
Highlights from the panel included:
Differentiation: Asset managers are leveraging their core competencies and adjacencies to create tangible differentiation from their competition. As the market has matured and has more and more participants chasing the same investors, differentiation has become a key area of focus in product design and distribution.
Opportunistic partnerships: Increased competition for investor capital and end borrowers has driven some private credit managers to seek out opportunistic partnerships, including with distribution partners, insurance firms, and other asset managers, in efforts to increase investor returns while minimizing costs. For several managers, strategic partnerships have been an accelerant for growth and there are many different flavors of strategic partnerships which can be tailored to meet the needs of different partners and play to their core competencies.
Understanding investors' preferences: In addition, the panelists noted that their firms are engaging with investors to better understand their preferences, including their desired asset allocation, liquidity options, and risk appetite. Multiple panelists provided anecdotes on how their firms have taken a nimble approach by creating new product wrappers that incorporate traditional aspects of drawdown funds, evergreen funds, and newer hybrid vehicles to meet their investors "where they are" and have similarly developed products to provide bespoke asset mixes for different investors. Dechert has been at the forefront of this trend and has helped clients tailor their product offerings, including through innovative fee arrangements and hybrid asset allocation strategies.
Evolution of private assets and the convergence of public and private credit assets: Mr. Bielefeld noted that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently lifted a policy that required closed-end funds that invest more than 15 percent of their net assets in underlying private funds to restrict sales to investors that satisfy the accredited investor standard and impose a minimum initial investment requirement of US$25,000. Against this backdrop, the panelists agreed that, with an SEC that has stated it is more open to democratizing access to private markets, the industry may start to see more traditional asset managers add private credit investments to managed portfolios and perhaps even to retirement accounts through model portfolios in the future.
Market for insurance products: Creating products for insurance companies continues to be a large area of focus and an area of innovation as asset managers continue to target fundraising from insurance company investors and design products to meet their specific needs.
Contributors
The Dechert moderators would like to thank Michael Piri for his contribution to this article.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
