Blackstone partners with Finland’s S-Bank on retail private debt fund
Blackstone has partnered with Finland’s S-Bank to widen access to its European private credit fund.
S-Bank has created a feeder fund that will invest its clients’ capital into the Blackstone European Private Credit Fund SICAV.
Blackstone’s European private credit fund was launched in October 2022 and has €581m (£497m) under management. It invests in senior secured loans to large European companies.
Annika Henriksson, portfolio manager responsible for capital investments at S-Bank, heralded the attractiveness of private credit compared to other fixed-income products.
She noted the asset class’s attractive risk-adjusted returns, as the investments are mainly secured senior loans with variable interest rates.
The Finnish tie-up follows Blackstone’s partnerships with Dutch bank ING and France’s BNP Paribas which similarly allow individual investors in those countries to access private credit.
The partnerships underline the challenges that private credit fund managers face in targeting individual investors in Europe compared to the US.
Blackstone has a very successful US fund – dubbed BCRED – which is open to private investors across the country,
However, each European market has its own regulations which managers must comply with.
In France and Finland, Blackstone had to launch a dedicated structure – a feeder fund – to enable investors in those countries to access its private credit fund.
In contrast, Italian investors can access the same fund directly via UniCredit.
Read more: Private debt funds: Wealth whispers
Market-specific regulations also dictate the minimum investment thresholds. In Finland, investors must put at least €100,000 into the fund, whereas the lower limit can be as little as €20,000 in other countries.
Alternative Credit Investor understands that Blackstone plans to roll out several more of these partnerships in Europe this year, with the aim of making the fund available to investors across the continent.
Asset managers have increasingly been expanding into the wealth market to diversify their sources of funding and meet their growth ambitions, intensifying the competition for Blackstone despite its first mover advantage.
Last month, Goldman Sachs joined the likes of Carlyle, Ares, Apollo and Eurazeo by launching a private credit fund for individuals.
