BCRED Posts Flat Q1 Return as Non-Accruals Rise and NAV Slides for Third Straight Quarter

Blackstone Private Credit Fund, or BCRED, reported a net asset value of $24.19 per share as of March 31, a decrease from $24.79 at year-end 2025. The nontraded business development company attributed this decline and its flat first-quarter total return to rising non-accrual rates and market volatility influenced by the impact of tariffs on portfolio company performance.

As of the end of March 2026, BCRED’s aggregate NAV stood at approximately $45 billion, down from $47.6 billion at year-end 2025, with a fair value investment portfolio of approximately $80.5 billion across nearly 700 issuers. The fund had approximately $35.3 billion in debt outstanding at principal, with an average debt-to-equity leverage ratio during March of approximately 0.76 times.

Non-accruals increased to 2.4% of the portfolio at cost and 1.4% at fair value as of March 31. The fund identified Medallia Inc. and Affordable Care, or ACI Group Holdings, as the two largest contributors to the increase since the prior quarter. Medallia carried a weighted average mark of 60.3 and Affordable Care was marked at 69.8. AltsWire reported in November 2025 on the Medallia position’s initial markdown, which also affected Blackstone’s publicly traded BDC. The fund said it is utilizing Blackstone’s resources to seek to maximize recoveries for shareholders.

BCRED reported a flat total return of 0.0% for Class I shares in the first quarter of 2026, compared with an annualized total return of 9.4% since the fund’s inception in January 2021. The fund said it outperformed the Morningstar LSTA U.S. Leveraged Loan Index by 52 basis points in the quarter. Since inception, BCRED has delivered approximately 350 basis points of outperformance versus leveraged loans, according to the company.

Despite the non-accrual increase, the fund characterized its broader portfolio as healthy. BCRED reported that borrowers delivered average last-12-months EBITDA growth of 11% year-over-year as of March 31, 2026, with interest coverage improving approximately 40% over the prior two years to 2.2 times. The portfolio carried a weighted average mark of 96.4. The bottom 5% of private debt holdings carried a weighted average mark of 69.6.

BCRED said it strengthened its capital structure since Dec. 31, 2025, reducing its overall cost of capital, extending liability duration and increasing available liquidity to more than $15 billion as of the end of Q1 2026, including approximately $7 billion in new financings and debt commitments during the quarter. The fund maintained a weighted average remaining duration on committed debt of approximately five years, which it said exceeded the weighted average remaining duration of its assets. Blackstone stated that BCRED holds the lowest all-in cost of debt among nontraded peers for the quarter and the highest combined credit ratings and outlook among nontraded peers, at Baa2/stable from Moody’s and BBB-/positive from S&P.

For April 2026, the fund’s board declared regular monthly distributions of $0.20 per share across all share classes before shareholder servicing and distribution fees. The April distribution is unchanged from the $0.20 per share rate declared in recent prior months, following a reduction from $0.22 per share reported by AltsWire in October 2025. Distributions are payable to shareholders of record as of the open of business on April 30 and will be paid on or about May 28.

As of April 1, BCRED sold approximately 4.28 million Class I shares through its unregistered private offering, raising approximately $103.6 million. The fund is currently offering up to $45 billion in shares on a continuous basis across its public and private offerings. Total shares issued across both offerings stand at approximately 2.23 billion shares, representing $56.6 billion in total consideration since inception.

The Q1 2026 update follows a period of heightened scrutiny of BCRED’s liquidity position. Investors requested to redeem a record 7.9% of the fund’s shares in the first quarter – equivalent to roughly $3.8 billion – the highest redemption level in the fund’s history. Blackstone honored all requests in full by upsizing the quarterly repurchase cap to 7% and injecting approximately $400 million from the firm and its employees. The fund’s 2025 annual report disclosed the full-year financial trajectory that preceded that event, including a steady NAV decline and rising unrealized losses throughout 2025.

Despite the redemption pressure, BCRED reported record full-year fundraising of $14 billion in 2025. The fund has continued to raise capital on a monthly basis through both its public and private offerings, though net flows turned negative in the first quarter as redemptions exceeded new subscriptions.

Blackstone Private Credit Fund is an externally managed nontraded BDC advised by Blackstone Private Credit Strategies LLC, a subsidiary of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE: BX). It invests primarily in floating rate, first lien senior secured loans to U.S. middle market and large corporate borrowers.

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