New York, Feb 23, 2026, 06:59 (EST) — Premarket
- Blue Owl (OWL) edges down 0.4% premarket, following Friday’s 6.7% decline.
- Hedge funds are circling three of Blue Owl’s unlisted credit funds, putting out tender offers at discounts ranging between 20% and 35% off NAV.
- Investors have their eyes on Blue Owl’s capital-return deadline set for March 31, while also scanning the leveraged-loan market for signals.
Blue Owl Capital Inc lost about 0.4% before the bell Monday, trading around $10.77 after ending Friday at $10.81. The stock had already tumbled 6.7% in the last session.
Investors are turning up the heat on Blue Owl’s retail private credit products, with a spotlight on liquidity and the rising costs of getting out. Hedge funds Saba Capital and Cox Capital Management are both prepping tender offers for holders of Blue Owl Capital Corp. II and two other unlisted Blue Owl vehicles, eyeing purchases at discounts ranging from 20% to 35% off net asset value, MarketWatch reports.
Worries are mounting in the software lending world as AI shakes up established business models and stirs up fresh questions around refinancing risk. “We expect AI disruption risk to be increasingly reflected over 2026 to early 2027,” said Matthew Mish, UBS’ head of credit strategy. UBS now sees defaults jumping to between 3% and 5% in a scenario where disruption accelerates—well above the market’s current 1% to 2% forecast, Reuters reports. Reuters
Blue Owl’s credit funds last week agreed to sell off $1.4 billion in direct-lending assets, unloading the portfolio at 99.7% of par as of Feb. 12. The money will be used to pay down debt and send capital back to investors. “We saw strong demand to purchase these investments at fair value,” Craig W. Packer said. The fund also noted OBDC II’s return-of-capital distribution should be completed by March 31 at the latest. Blue Owl Capital
OBDC II is a non-traded business development company, or BDC, acting as a closed-end lender with a focus on middle-market companies. The fund typically places limits on when investors are allowed to redeem shares. Net asset value, or NAV, is calculated by taking assets, subtracting liabilities, and dividing by the share count.
Nerves extended beyond Blue Owl. Blackstone slid 0.3% ahead of the open, adding to Friday’s 3.6% loss. Ares tumbled 5.2% that day. Apollo, on the other hand, managed a 1.2% gain.
The next step depends on when and how that pledged liquidity actually arrives. Should the tender offer land with a big discount, it may end up serving as a benchmark for pricing other comparable products—particularly if demands for redemption intensify.
Traders are watching for the hedge funds to formally launch their tenders and release the related disclosures. Fresh filings could, for the first time, reveal the actual demand for discounted exits.
Risk and rates remain in focus for traders. Fed Governor Christopher Waller is set to deliver remarks later Monday, the Federal Reserve’s calendar shows.
Blue Owl is up against an important deadline: the return-of-capital payment from OBDC II, due by March 31. The firm’s investors are zeroed in on this date, seeing it as a decisive trial of Blue Owl’s capacity to prevent a liquidity crunch from escalating.
