NEW YORK, March 12, 2026, 11:25 EDT
Blue Owl Capital Inc. shares lost more ground Thursday, slipping about 1% to $8.94 after dipping as low as $8.54 earlier. Renewed scrutiny over private-credit loan valuations weighed on the stock, a frequent target given its exposure. Pressure intensified after a Financial Times report, referenced by Reuters, said Glendon Capital Management disputed valuations within one of Blue Owl’s largest funds. Reuters
The rout stretches well past Blue Owl. The firm is now a focal point in the $2 trillion private-credit world — that’s direct corporate lending outside traditional banks — and the timing isn’t great: JPMorgan recently marked down certain loans in the space, and Morgan Stanley put limits on withdrawals from a private-credit fund after a surge in redemption requests. Reuters
According to the FT report referenced by Reuters, Glendon accused lenders like Blue Owl of masking vulnerabilities and holding onto bigger losses than disclosed. His remarks specifically targeted valuations in Blue Owl Capital Corporation. Still, Blue Owl’s investor page lists assets under management above $307 billion at 2025’s close. Reuters
Skepticism is surfacing throughout the listed credit fund space. Business development companies, or BDCs—publicly traded vehicles that give investors access to typically illiquid private loans—are changing hands at an average of just 78 cents on the dollar, down from 85 cents at the beginning of this year, according to Reuters and Morningstar. Investors are “increasingly” convinced the sector’s “best days are behind it,” Morningstar analyst Jack Shannon told Reuters. Reuters
Blue Owl isn’t letting it slide. On February 18, the firm announced that four public pension and insurance investors snapped up $1.4 billion in loans at 99.7% of par. Blue Owl’s BDCs chief, Craig W. Packer, said demand “far exceeded” what the company actually put on the table. Part of the money will go toward a return-of-capital payout at OBDC II—up to $2.35 a share, or roughly 30% of the fund’s net asset value. Blue Owl Capital
Investors reacted even more negatively. At the time, Reuters noted that Blue Owl’s updated liquidity plan for OBDC II—a non-traded credit fund—spooked shareholders by swapping quarterly redemption rights for return-of-capital distributions. Truist Securities analyst Brian Finneran flagged that the market interpreted the sale as a hint that withdrawal requests had picked up pace. The stock had already shed over half its value in the previous 12 months. Reuters
It’s not just Blue Owl feeling the squeeze. Morgan Stanley reported investors tried to pull out almost 11% of shares from its North Haven Private Income Fund. Blackstone, for its part, said withdrawals from BCRED hit $3.7 billion in the first quarter. KKR flagged pressure on near-term returns for its listed private-credit fund. Taken together, these updates highlight how stress is rippling through top competitors like Blackstone and KKR. Reuters
The risk is clear enough: should valuations on software-focused loan portfolios slip further, or a softer economy drive defaults higher, discounts to asset values may deepen, pushing funds to hold back on exits or offload assets in a market with few buyers. Glenn Schorr at Evercore ISI points out that current discounts already bake in worries about recession and rising loan losses. For now, according to Reuters, JPMorgan’s markdowns haven’t resulted in significant margin calls. Reuters
Still, some pushback remains. Morgan Stanley insists its fund’s credit fundamentals look stable, while Blackstone President Jon Gray points to steady inflows from pension funds and big institutions into private credit. All eyes on Blue Owl, though—it’s become a daily gauge of investor confidence in the valuations private lenders put on their portfolios. Reuters
