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October 12, 2026

Buyers circle three listed lenders' loan books

Also: Forge puts AI up 7.7% and Anthropic flat in September, and Blackstone Credit files for North Star.

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The Secondary Brief Monday, 12 October 2026
Buyers circle three listed lenders' loan books
7 min read · 2 figures · In this issue
Three listed lenders weigh selling their loansVenture buyers paid up for AI in September

Private credit managers are studying bids for listed lenders whose shares trade below their loans' value, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Three of those lenders are reviewing options that include a sale, and one of them, WhiteHorse Finance, is pursuing a $680 million continuation vehicle. In addition, Blackstone Credit filed on Thursday for a fund named North Star, the day Bloomberg reported its $1 billion credit vehicle. Meanwhile, Forge's September print put AI shares up 7.74% and Anthropic unchanged.

Number of the day
+1.39%
Forge's private market index rose 1.39% in September after a 0.64% fall in August, Forge wrote on 8 October, and its cap-weighted index rose 3.38%.

The tape

  • DEAL  Permira and TPG bought $450 million of Cloudnine, an Indian hospital chain, on 29 September from True North and TPG's NewQuest secondaries unit, Mint reported.
  • FUND  Ardian launched on 29 September an infrastructure evergreen for wealth investors, €10,000 minimum through iCapital, that buys fund interests beside direct deals.
  • PEOPLE  Jamaine Cook joined Metric Point Capital, a placement and liquidity adviser, as principal on 28 September after five years underwriting secondaries at RCP Advisors.
  •  

Three listed lenders weigh selling their loans

Private credit managers are weighing bids for listed lenders whose shares trade far below the value of their loans, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The managers named are Ares, Barings, BC Partners and Churchill Asset Management. They "examined potential deals involving troubled funds in recent months", the report says, and the talks "may not lead to transactions". The same report names three listed lenders that are reviewing options including a sale. They are BlackRock's TCP Capital, H.I.G.'s WhiteHorse Finance and Investcorp Credit Management BDC. That sale could be a merger, a purchase of the management contract or a purchase of the loans themselves, the report says. In addition, Apollo's MidCap Financial has explored options for its portfolio, Bloomberg says.

All four trade well below the value of their loans. A lender whose shares trade that low cannot raise new equity. The law for these lenders bars selling shares below net asset value without a shareholder vote. So selling the loans near their value pays shareholders more than the market does, and the three reviews are weighing that sale.

Four listed lenders trade far below the value of their loans

Share price at Friday's close against net asset value per share at 30 June 2026, % below

Investcorp Credit Management BDC
 80%
$0.70 against $3.44, review since March with Houlihan Lokey
WhiteHorse Finance
 40%
$7.02 against $11.77, a ~$680m vehicle with Jefferies
MidCap Financial
 37%
$8.47 against $13.37, options explored for its portfolio, Bloomberg says
TCP Capital
 32%
$4.01 against $5.90, the June value less the August sale, $671m of loans being shopped
Source: Yahoo Finance closes of 9 October 2026; each company's second-quarter release or 10-Q; Bloomberg, 24 August and 9 October 2026; PitchBook, 9 October 2026.

TCP Capital, BlackRock's listed lender, has gone furthest. In January it cut its net asset value by about 19%, Bloomberg reported in May. On 4 August it sold 95% of a continuation vehicle holding $523 million of loans in 78 companies to funds managed by Pantheon. The price was 95% of their December value, about $152 million. The company called that price "a substantial premium to the value implied by its share price". That sale cut net asset value by about $0.68 a share, or 10.4%.

The same day its board hired Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to review what to do with the rest. Then on 24 August Bloomberg reported that KBW was sounding out buyers for the $671 million of loans left, with Ares among the firms approached. In addition, the board's list of options has reinvesting in the portfolio, buying back shares and a merger.

WhiteHorse Finance, H.I.G.'s listed lender, chose the vehicle first. It held $569 million of loans in 67 companies at 30 June, beside a $340 million joint venture with Ohio's teachers' pension. Its board formed a special committee on 15 September to explore "a sale or other corporate transaction". Three weeks later PitchBook reported the committee's answer, as read here on Saturday. It is a continuation vehicle of about $680 million for the loans, with Jefferies advising. Neither its buyers nor its price has been reported.

Investcorp Credit Management BDC is the smallest of the three and the furthest below its value. It held $136 million of loans at 30 June, its net assets were $3.44 a share, and its shares closed at $0.70 on Friday. Its board opened a review of "a broad range of strategic, financial and business configuration options" on 30 March, when it also stopped the dividend. The board then hired Houlihan Lokey on 20 April, and it has set no timetable.

For reference, Evercore expects BDCs and other semi-liquid vehicles to supply about 25% of this year's credit secondaries volume. Its July review gives that forecast on page 2. The buyers of that supply already include the largest sponsors. Among those sponsors, Blackstone raised about $1 billion last week for loans of its Capital Opportunities Fund IV, as read here on Friday. Allianz Global Investors leads that vehicle, Bloomberg says. Meanwhile, TCP Capital's review and WhiteHorse's committee have no deadline. The third board, Investcorp's, will not comment again until it approves "a definitive course of action".

Venture buyers paid up for AI in September

Forge's September print puts the price of AI companies up 7.74% while fintech fell 3.26%, the marketplace wrote on 8 October. Forge is a venture secondary marketplace whose Private Market Index tracks the prices of the companies that trade on it. Forge publishes the index around the tenth of each month, and in September it rose 1.39%. The cap-weighted Accuidity index, which gives the largest companies more weight, rose 3.38%. In August the cap-weighted index had also led, 5.09% against a fall of 0.64%, as read here on 15 September. Within the index, defense companies rose 4.96% and consumer companies 0.62% in September, while chips fell 2.07%.

Forge's September print split by sector

Change in the price of Forge's thematic baskets and its index, September 2026

Forge's September 2026 print: AI companies up 7.74%, defense up 4.96%, the index up 1.39%, chips down 2.07% and fintech down 3.26%

Source: Forge, September highlights, 8 October 2026.

The moves by company were wider than the baskets. They came after an August in which the median Forge trade was 3% below the company's last round. Buyers were 45% of indications that month, Forge said on 22 September, as read here on 2 October. The September buyers paid up most for Fin, the former Intercom, which rose 78.73%. They also paid up for OpenAI, up 32.26%, and for Lambda at 40.84%. Below Lambda came Anduril at 7.29% and SpaceX at 4.99%, while Anthropic was unchanged at 0.00%. By contrast, Airtable fell 56.12%, Postman 33.67% and Kraken 19.09%.

Anthropic's price did not move in the month before it meets investors. Anthropic briefs institutional investors on Wednesday at its San Francisco headquarters, Bloomberg reported on 1 October, relayed by Briefs. Its formal marketing could start the week of 9 November, the same report says. Its shares sit in trusts such as Baillie Gifford US Growth, and the listing gives them a public price. In addition, Forge's next market update, with the September median against the last round, is due around 22 October.

Seen before the press

Blackstone Credit has set up a fund named North Star. Blackstone Credit North Star Fund LP filed its Form D on Thursday from 345 Park Avenue, signed by the credit arm's officers. The fund is of indefinite size, with nothing raised yet and no placement agent. Its filing landed on the day Bloomberg reported Blackstone's $1 billion continuation fund for loans of Capital Opportunities Fund IV, as read here on Friday. Allianz Global Investors leads that vehicle and StepStone is also buying, Bloomberg said. That vehicle is most probably what North Star is, registered as the commitments are signed. It could also be a new credit fund with no link to the sale, and Blackstone has announced nothing.

SEC · Form DFiled 8 Oct 2026
Blackstone Credit North Star Fund LP
Raisednothing yet
SizeOpen-ended
SponsorBlackstone Credit, 345 Park Avenue, New York, officers Brad Marshall, Dwight Scott, Robert Petrini and Louis Salvatore
Read the filing

On the radar

  • Tuesday 13 to Thursday 15 October, London. SuperReturn Global Infrastructure at the Hilton Bankside, the first infrastructure gathering since Meridiam closed its $4.5 billion vehicle with Ares, GIC and Pantheon on 6 October.
  • Wednesday 14 October, 10.30am, London. Pantheon International's annual meeting at Carlton House Terrace, the first since Saba Capital reached 12% of the trust. The trust sold 42 fund positions in May at 8.1% below their June 2025 value.
  • Wednesday 14 October, San Francisco. Anthropic briefs institutional investors at its headquarters, Bloomberg reported on 1 October, relayed by Briefs, with formal marketing possible from the week of 9 November.
  • Thursday 15 October, 2pm, London. SDCL Efficiency Income Trust's general meeting votes on seating Boaz Weinstein of Saba and Richard Pavry of General Atlantic as directors. A yes puts its two largest holders on the board that reviews a sale of its portfolio.
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Gaël Parienté
The Secondary Brief | Founder & Content Manager
[email protected]
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