Two Private Credit ETFs Launch in a Single Day in New Gold Rush

“Private anything is all the rage,” said Sohn, ETF strategist at Strategas. “The CLO space is quite popular, now just labeling it differently. I think the real avalanche comes pending what happens with State Street and Apollo.”

The new funds from BondBloxx and Virtus bring together two popular trends. Assets in CLO-focused ETFs have ballooned to more than $19 billion after the first such fund set sail in 2020.

That surge has been lead by explosive growth in the $16 billion Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF (JAAA).

The private credit industry has also been growing at an impressive clip. McKinsey estimates that private markets are now worth more than $13 trillion, after posting 20% annual growth since 2018.

That’s stoked demand among retail investors, intensifying competition among issuers that are figuring out how to provide access.

One of the early answers comes with the launch of PCMM and PCLO. However, it remains to be seen how private credit CLOs perform in an “inevitable downturn” in the economy, according to Janus head of U.S. securitized products John Kerschner.

Part of the appeal of true private credit is that a single lender can work with one borrower during difficult economic times, whereas a CLO is a diversified pool of loans, he said.

“We don’t really know how private credit CLOs will perform in a true dislocation,” said Kerschner, who manages JAAA. “You are relying on diversification to help you out when that may be exactly what you don’t want in a downturn. Rather, you’d probably prefer having one counterparty to try to work out any problem loans.”

Copyright 2024 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.