JPMorgan looks to buy private credit firm

JPMorgan Chase & Co is on the acquisition hunt for a private credit firm to boost its presence in the sector.

According to sources cited by Bloomberg, the US bank’s asset management arm held talks to buy Chicago-based Monroe Capital this year but the two firms ultimately decided not to pursue a deal.

While the unit is looking for an acquisition target, it may ultimately decide to grow its private credit offerings organically, one of the sources said.

Read more: JPMorgan in talks to expand its private credit business

JPMorgan has been extremely bullish on the private debt sector for some time now. Its investment bank has already earmarked more than $10bn (£7.9bn) of its balance sheet for direct lending, and it is looking to partner with asset managers on private credit deals.

During JPMorgan Chase’s investor day on 20 May in New York, Troy Rohrbaugh, co-chief executive of commercial and investment banking, said that the bank sees many opportunities for growth in individual clients segments and products such as private credit.

“Private credit is a very important growing space and we believe we have an advanced strategy across the entire commercial and investment bank,” he said.

“We believe we are uniquely positioned to be an important part of all aspects of the ecosystem.”

And earlier this year, JPMorgan’s private bank praised the potential of direct lending in the private credit sector and suggested that the overall private credit market could be worth more than $3tn.