Investment Strategies
Private debt
BlackRock has built industry-leading private debt capabilities over the past 20 years, seeking to deliver attractive results throughout market cycles. Our platform provides a whole portfolio approach to investing across the risk/return spectrum, leveraging our global scale to deliver investment solutions that meet our clients' needs.
Why invest in private debt?
There is increasing demand from borrowers for financing from alternatives sources, as banks pull back from lending and syndicated markets see ever larger deal sizes. At the same time, borrowers are increasingly choosing private debt for the benefits it can provide, even when financing is available from traditional sources.
Investment strategies
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Direct lending
Private loans to performing middle market companies
Why now?
- Rapid deployment: Strong and growing borrower demand for non-bank financing allows for rapid and highly selective deployment
- Income: Floating rate loans can deliver potentially higher income relative to similar public market debt in a rising interest rate environment
- Structural protections: Senior secured loans with bilaterally-agreed terms can provide downside protection rarely offered in public markets
Opportunistic
Capital solutions with complexity and illiquidity premiums
Why now?
- Dynamic flexibility: All-weather strategies designed to capture the best risk-adjusted opportunities regardless of the market environment
- Premium returns: Potential for equity-like returns with credit-level risk driven by predominantly income and some capital appreciation
- Downside mitigation: Bilateral negotiation affords structure and pricing influence and robust credit documentation, including comprehensive covenants and other protections
Growth debt
Operationally flexible loans to innovative, high-growth companies
Why now?
- Favourable market dynamics: Dynamics of venture & growth markets highly favourable towards a structured debt strategy
- Enhanced returns: Potential for equity-like returns with credit-level risk driven by predominantly income and some capital appreciation
- Downside mitigation: Target transactions only alongside top-tier equity sponsors. Focus on well-funded companies with long cash runways, experienced management teams, underlying profitability, and where senior-security available.
Infrastructure debt
Global platform investing in energy, power, renewables, transport, social and digital assets
Why now?
- Income: Potentially higher income relative to similarly rated corporate credit.
- Diversification: Historically, 2-2.5x lower loss rates and low default correlation3 to corporate credit; complements OECD core equity infrastructure.
- Liability matching: Longer maturity debt providing for 10-25 year+ liability matching.
- Inflation risk mitigation: Floating rate infrastructure debt may provide inflation management in a rising rate environment.
Real estate debt
Diversified portfolio of income producing real estate assets across US and Western Europe
Why now?
- Market depth: Retrenchment of traditional lenders (banks) creates a large opportunity set for private lenders like BlackRock to meet borrower needs for refinancing and new capital.
- Risk-adjusted returns: Private market spreads widen as bank activity recedes; Combined with increased base rates, this has potential to boost returns across the capital stack and at all risk (LTV) levels.
- Diversification & Income: Significant diversification opportunities across regions, properties, sectors and loan types. Ability to adjust exposures to capitalize on prevailing market environment.
Multi-strategy debt solutions
Flexible single entry point to global solutions across the credit spectrum
Why now?
- Simplicity: Access to dedicated multi-credit teams improves efficiency and reduces governance complexity as clients seek to do more with fewer managers
- Flexibility: Active allocation across opportunities in global credit as the market evolves
- Transparency: Holistic view of credit exposures improves risk oversight while delivering integrated reporting
Learn more about the role of private debt in your portfolio
Private debt is not just a strategy, it’s a burgeoning ecosystem of $1.9 trillion assets and growing to meet the evolving needs of investors and borrowers. BlackRock can help address full suite of investor objectives across the risk-return spectrum, liquidity needs, regions, currencies and ESG objectives.
BlackRock team
Stephan Caron
Head of Global Direct Lending
Jeffrey Cucunato
Head of Multi-Strategy Debt Solutions
Sharon Greenberg
Head of Private Debt Solutions
Robert Karnes
Head of Real Estate Debt
Latest insights
Today’s private credit opportunity
Explore how private credit supports economic growth and helps investors achieve better portfolio outcomes. As we unlock private markets for our clients—making them more accessible and transparent—we’re facilitating the flow of capital to some of the best opportunities across the economy and furthering our mission to help more people invest better.
Private Credit: Further confirmation of its staying power
The piece addresses the increase in partnership activity between banks and private credit lenders, as the financial ecosystem continues to evolve.
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