BlackRock's $13 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund is experiencing significant withdrawal limitations, honoring less than 40% of redemption requests, marking a trend for the second consecutive quarter. Investors wanted to withdraw over $1.6 billion, equivalent to about 13% of the fund's net assets, but only 5% of net assets were honored, totaling approximately $620 million. This situation reflects the broader challenges facing the $2 trillion private credit industry as many funds, including those managed by other firms like Blackstone and Apollo Global, are also experiencing increased redemption requests. Multiple factors contribute to this stress, including rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and concerns over underwriting quality following bankruptcies in the auto parts and subprime lending sectors. Despite these issues, BlackRock is pushing forward with plans to launch new private market funds and aims for substantial revenue growth by 2030.

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BlackRock private credit fund honours less than 40% of redemption requests

The firm’s $13bn HPS Corporate Lending Fund limits withdrawals for a second consecutive quarter

BlackRock company logo displayed on the glass exterior above the entrance of a building with revolving doors. The fund is one of the marquee vehicles BlackRock acquired as part of its $12bn purchase of private credit specialist HPS Investment Partners last year© 2024 Getty Images

Eric Platt in New York

PublishedJune 12 2026

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Investors sought to pull more than 13 per cent from one of BlackRock’s flagship private credit funds, with the group limiting withdrawals for a second quarter as retail investors rush for the exits.

BlackRock said redemption requests from its $13bn HPS Corporate Lending Fund climbed to roughly $1.6bn from $1.2bn in the first quarter. The world’s largest asset manager honoured requests equal to 5 per cent of the fund’s net assets, worth about $620mn.

The fund is one of the marquee vehicles BlackRock acquired as part of its $12bn purchase of private credit specialist HPS Investment Partners last year, a deal that helped turn the New York-headquartered company into one of the largest private asset money managers.

The fund, which uses leverage to bolster its investing firepower, has an investment portfolio worth nearly $25bn, making it one of the largest vehicles buying private corporate loans.

HPS said in a letter to shareholders that it expected new commitments to the fund would offset the redemptions it has so far honoured this year.

It added that it believed the fund’s performance was “predicated upon the fund’s quarterly liquidity framework, which aligns investor capital with the expected duration of private credit investments”.

The $2tn private credit industry has been hit by retail and wealthy investors attempting to pull tens of billions of dollars over the past year from funds managed by investment groups including Apollo Global, Ares Management, Blackstone, Blue Owl and Morgan Stanley.

Early figures show that redemption requests continued to build across the industry in the second quarter, with Blackstone, Cliffwater and Monroe Capital all reporting a rise. All three limited outflows to 5 per cent, a threshold built into most funds that allows a money manager to put up its gates.

Column chart of Quarterly withdrawal requests (% of net asset value) showing Redemption requests climb across private credit funds

The stress in the industry was triggered by the Federal Reserve’s decision last year to begin cutting interest rates, which weighed on returns.

Frauds at bankrupt auto parts maker First Brands Group and bankrupt subprime lender Tricolor then rapidly sapped investor appetite for credit where there were questions over the quality of underwriting.

Advances by AI this year have intensified concerns, with enterprise software companies, many of which have been financed by private credit funds, particularly exposed.

BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink has wagered heavily on private markets with the acquisitions of HPS, infrastructure investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners and the data company Preqin.

The company last year set a $400bn fundraising target across its private markets franchises through 2030, which it pinned partially on the growth of private funds pitched to wealthy individuals.

The firm is ploughing ahead with those vehicles, even as the appetite for private investment funds from retail and wealthy individuals ebbs. BlackRock plans to launch a cohort of funds that it has called the ‘H series’, registering several vehicles that will invest in properties and real assets like music royalties and equipment with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

BlackRock hopes to generate more than $10bn in revenues in 2030 from its private investment and technology businesses, more than double what it recorded last year.

Vehicles like the HPS Corporate Lending Fund, known as HLEND, go some way towards hitting those targets. The fund generated $287mn in management and incentive fees last year, up from $214mn a year prior. It returned 8.2 per cent after fees over the past year.

Fink said in April that demand for private credit from larger, sophisticated investors was nonetheless “accelerating” during the market turmoil, with greater investment returns on offer.

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