In a prior post, we provided the audio to UC CFO Jagdeep Bachhar recent "conversations" with several figures from the world of finance.* As we noted, they were all anxious to tell a story of not-to-worry about such developments as the Iran War and the related boost of energy prices. They all urged taking a long view in which these short term events won't matter. Bachhar indicated a similar view, i.e., we're in it for the long term with our pension and endowment.
So here's an excerpt from a recent op ed in the NY Times:
Over the past few years, one of the signature funds at Blackstone, the private equity giant, has delivered, on average, 10 percent annual returns for its investors. The fund, which specializes in private credit, has lent money to more than 400 borrowers, who in turn have deployed those loans to become more profitable themselves. And yet, in the first quarter of this year, nearly 8 percent of the fund’s investors declared they wanted out. Something similar has happened at funds managed by Apollo (where redemption requests hit 11.2 percent), Ares (11.6 percent) and Blue Owl (21.9 percent).
When asked on CNBC to explain why his investors are asking for their cash back, the Blackstone president, Jonathan Gray, blamed “noise” — a “disjointed environment now between what’s happening on the ground with underlying portfolios and what’s happening in the news cycle.” He may well be right. Another explanation might be that we are witnessing a kind of slow-motion bank run. Investors, spooked by a litany of bad news, are rushing to pull their money out of private credit funds. If they all ask at once, these funds — and potentially the firms that manage them — could falter.
To quote the great Taylor Swift, “I think I’ve seen this film before and I didn’t like the ending.” ...
Full op ed at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/opinion/banking-crisis-private-credit.html.
Just saying...
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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/04/more-conversations.html.
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