Private credit · 3 articles

Private credit is read in the documents, not the pitch

Private credit is lending that happens outside the public markets, usually from a fund to a single company, and usually held until it is repaid. There is no daily price to consult and no crowd of other holders to share the work of watching the borrower. Whatever a lender knows about the company arrives through the loan agreement, the monthly reports it requires, and the relationship with management. That makes the documents the whole of the protection, and it makes the quality of the underwriting visible only years later, when a weak quarter arrives.

I read this lane from the bottom of the capital structure up. I want to know how much cash survives a hard year, which claims stand ahead of mine on that cash, and whether the documents keep it from leaking elsewhere. The rate comes last. The articles here look at the mechanics that decide those answers: which covenants still give early warning, how a single loan can hide more than one creditor, and what a careful file looks like before the money moves. Read these as explanations of how the loans are built, not as a call on where the market goes next.