blackstone last august want to put $2 billion for loans According to The Information, startups and tech companies. But venture creditors remain skeptical that the asset class’s small checks are worth it to asset managers and their large LPs. Recently, some lenders have told me that they don’t think we’ll ever see big credit shops adding risky debt strategies.
Now, BlackRock says, “Hold my beer!”
Last week BlackRock, the sheer massive asset manager with a market capitalization of $106 billion, announced it would acquire London-based venture creditor Kreos Capital. Kreos lends to start-ups in Europe and Israel, distributing loans worth EUR 5.2 billion (USD 5.68 billion) in more than 750 transactions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and BlackRock said the Kreos team would be integrated into its existing credit group.
BlackRock declined to comment for this story after publication and Kreos could not be reached for comment.
As someone who used to pay for corporate debt, this news shocked me. If any credit asset manager were to move to risky debt, BlackRock wouldn’t be my first choice, my second choice or even my top 10, really. The company is so big and already spread across so many asset classes, I think it might be a pure credit store first.
