More than one-third of dry powder is held by top 20 private credit managers

The top 20 global private credit fund managers collectively held more than one-third of dry powder available to the asset class at the end of last year, according to Preqin and S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

The pair reported that the 20 largest private credit firms by private credit assets under management (AUM) held a total of $138.14bn (£110.2bn) in uncommitted capital, equating to 36 per cent of the total $385.28bn in global private credit uncommitted capital.

Dry powder estimates were unavailable for Nuveen and SLC Management, so their actual share of private credit dry powder may be higher.

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The US dominates the private credit industry, with 17 of the 20 largest private credit managers by AUM, according to the Market Intelligence and Preqin data.

Ares Management ranked third on the list for AUM but ranked first among the firms on fundraising, with $104.48bn worth of commitments gathered from investors over the past decade, according to Preqin data.

Ares also held the greatest amount of uncommitted capital at $39.90bn.

Ares is the corporate parent of Hong Kong-based Ares SSG, the fourth largest private credit fund manager with $308.6bn in AUM.

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Apollo, which tops the list for AUM at $480bn, reported dry powder was $6.4bn at the end of the third quarter, including $5.4bn of dry powder with future management fee potential, of which approximately 75 per cent is in credit.

Apollo, like most of the top private credit managers, has its roots in private equity. All four of the largest publicly traded private equity firms, Blackstone, KKR, The Carlyle Group and Apollo appear in the top 10.

Read more: Apollo sees credit AUM rise by 20pc to $598bn in Q3