By Silla Brush and Olivia Fishlow | Updated on Jun 12, 2026 at 02:29 PM
BlackRock Inc. capped redemptions from its flagship private credit fund for the second straight quarter after investors sought to pull about 13%, a sign that shareholders remain nervous about the health of the $1.8 trillion market.
The roughly $25 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund, known as HLEND, said it would allow only 5% redemptions, according to a filing Friday. The request for 13.3% was higher than the prior quarter when shareholders asked to redeem 9.3% of their shares.
“This liquidity feature is critical to HLEND’s ability to provide its investors with a premium return to public credit markets,” the firm said in a letter to investors. “This profile is further bolstered by continued subscriptions and distribution reinvestment, which together are expected to more than fully offset repurchases during the first six months of 2026.”
BlackRock’s HLEND, one of the largest private credit vehicles of its kind, was the first major fund this year to enforce redemption limits and manage liquidity in the face of swelling investor concerns about direct lenders’ underwriting standards and exposure to software businesses vulnerable to AI disruption.
The move was a contrast to rivals including Blackstone Inc., which had gone to unusual lengths to satisfy investor demands for cash. But this quarter, Blackstone also enforced the 5% limit on its flagship private credit fund after investors asked to redeem even more money than in the prior period.
Redemption requests are widely expected to increase across the industry as investors redouble efforts to claw back money after being restricted. And there are persistent concerns about the credit cycle turning, with industry leaders warning of a rise in defaults as artificial intelligence continues to disrupt businesses and borrowings from the era of ultra-low rates come due.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts who track business development companies have said they’re watching “net new redemptions” to gauge the pressure on the private credit market. The metric looks to differentiate between withdrawal requests from investors who couldn’t fully get out in the first quarter, versus those who decided to exit starting in the second quarter.
Separately, the smaller BlackRock Private Credit Fund, known as BDEBT, said in an filing Friday that it received repurchase requests for 5.3% of shares — the first time in its four-year history it exceeded the 5% threshold.
The fund said in a letter to investors that it would enforce the 5% limit, as “maintaining discipline around this framework serves the long-term interests of all BDEBT’s shareholders.”
HLEND has produced a 10.2% annualized total return since it was formed, while BDEBT has delivered 9.1%, the letters said.