Private Debt and Direct Lending - Articles & White Papers

While further volatility is possible, the global equity bull market should continue through 2027. The backdrop for markets looks generally constructive, supported by steady economic growth, widening market breadth, and a steep global yield curve. Investor sentiment, currently split between AI optimism and geopolitical risks,…

Five themes reshaping alternative assets — from AI infrastructure and private credit to energy security. Download the Nuveen nPOWERED26 outlook.

Private credit markets continue to scale, and demand to understand what is happening beneath the surface is growing as market participants seek to build more diversified and resilient portfolios, manage liquidity and identify new return streams.

Explore the growing debate around incorporating private market investments into defined contribution plans and target date funds, including the potential benefits and practical challenges.

Private markets offer return potential, resilience, and stability. Explore Nuveen's 3 key benefits of private market investing to diversify a portfolio.

BDC equities continue to trade at significant discounts to NAV, reflecting skepticism toward reported marks, a concern reinforced by valuation levels that have yet to fully reset, even as BDC bonds continue to outperform their stocks.

Private credit benchmarks have existed for years, but many are built on fund-level performance rather than on the underlying loans. This has created an incomplete picture of risk and volatility.

The FTSE Private Credit BDC Composite Index combines listed and non-listed BDCs to provide a more complete representation of the investable private credit universe.

In private credit, the headline-driven uncertainty could create a constructive setup for lenders over the next six to twelve months, especially as spreads have widened modestly.

Direct lending defaults are harder to observe than public market defaults, but analysis suggests financial distress has risen markedly since 2022.

Only a few of Morningstar’s market benchmarks are in negative territory so far this year, but our listed private equity index is one of them. Publicly traded companies focused on private markets investing—Blackstone BX, KKR KKR, and Apollo Global Management APO being the largest—are one of the weakest pockets of global…

MetLife Investment Management's Q2 2026 Private Credit Review and Outlook highlights a resilient private credit market, supported by strong deal origination, sustained investor demand and compelling relative value opportunities.

Hybrid capital is flexible private capital that sits in the gap between private debt and private equity. It combines a contractual or asset-based return with participation in upside, structured so the two elements stack rather than offset.

A transition towards economies, businesses and financial systems that value and sustain biodiversity can reduce long-term risks, strengthen economic resilience and support new sources of value creation and investment across sectors.

Private credit—business loans made by non-bank lenders—has expanded rapidly worldwide, but for Canadian businesses, it remains a stable and relatively limited source of funding. Canadian asset managers, however, are actively participating in private credit globally, creating exposures that could matter for financial stability…

This paper showcases five innovative financing products from China worth CNY6.6bn to mobilize private capital to close the global funding gap for water security of USD7.5trn by 2040.

This report examines how the private credit market has evolved since 2025 and how it has performed during its first meaningful period of credit stress in a higher interest rate environment. For now, private credit has managed borrower distress through restructurings, payment-in-kind interest, covenant amendments and debt-for…

The CVC Credit team reflects on the factors and trends that have shaped the liquid and private credit markets.

Despite a narrower premium, direct lending continues to offer an attractive value proposition as public markets remain firmly risk-on despite the uncertain macroeconomic environment.

The most promising response to private credit’s liquidity and valuation challenges is the development of a robust private credit secondary market. Deeper trading of private loans would improve price discovery, expand liquidity options for funds and investors, and reduce reliance on discretionary valuations.