Overview
- Blue Owl, which disclosed the surge Thursday, limited first‑quarter payouts to the standard 5% after investors sought to redeem 21.9% of shares in OCIC and 40.7% in OTIC, totaling about $5.3–$5.4 billion.
- Shares of Blue Owl fell as much as 8% to a record intraday low and peers like Apollo, Ares, Blackstone and KKR also slipped as investors reassessed risk across private credit.
- The firm said portfolios remain sound and cited sizable liquidity to meet caps, including about $11.3 billion at OCIC, though unmet requests will queue into future quarters.
- Blue Owl attributed the spike to fears that AI could disrupt software borrowers and noted that a small slice of holders drove tenders, with 90% not redeeming and some large institutions among those who did.
- Managers across the sector have been gating outflows as non‑traded business development companies offer only quarterly liquidity, a structure now under closer scrutiny as outflows top $11 billion in recent quarters and U.S. and U.K. officials step up monitoring.