PGIM Launches First Private Credit CIT for Defined Contribution Plans
PGIM, the asset management business of Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU), has launched its first private credit collective investment trust for defined contribution, or DC, retirement plans. The vehicle, formally named the PGIM Investment Grade Private Credit Fund of the Prudential Trust Company Alternative Investments Collective Trust, provides DC plans with exposure to investment-grade private placement and investment-grade asset-based finance securities.
The CIT is trusted and managed by the Prudential Trust Company and sub-advised by PGIM’s multi-sector credit team, which is part of PGIM’s $1.2 trillion credit platform. The fund is designed for use within professionally managed retirement solutions including target date funds, stable value funds, and other white-label or multimanager structures.
PGIM said the launch is the first of several private markets vehicles it intends to bring to the DC channel. The firm said it sub-advises $57 billion in assets across more than 55 CITs on the Prudential Trust Company and Great Gray trustee platforms, and manages $264 billion in private credit assets overall.
“Private markets have long played an important role in institutional portfolios, but access within DC plans has historically been limited,” said Sara Shean, head of institutional DC at PGIM. “This new collective investment trust reflects PGIM’s continued focus on expanding access to private credit through structures that align with the nuanced needs of DC plans while seeking to deliver attractive risk-adjusted outcomes for retirement savers.”
The PGIM launch arrives as the DC channel has become an increasingly active front for private markets product development. In February, AltsWire reported that Invesco launched a private real estate CIT for defined contribution plans, structured as a daily valued vehicle designed for target date funds and managed accounts. In March, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed a safe harbor rule that would give plan sponsors clearer fiduciary footing when selecting alternatives — a development that could accelerate DC adoption of private markets strategies.
John Vibert, head of credit at PGIM, said the firm’s private credit scale positions it to develop products suited to the operational and liquidity requirements of the retirement channel. PGIM said the multi-sector credit team sources across direct, agented, sponsored, and non-sponsored channels, drawing on the firm’s public and private markets capabilities.
The CIT structure has emerged as a preferred wrapper for asset managers bringing alternative exposures into DC plans, offering lower costs and greater flexibility than ’40 Act mutual funds without the regulatory constraints that apply to insurance-company separate accounts. The DC channel has drawn growing attention from private markets managers as defined benefit plan assets continue to decline relative to defined contribution accumulation.
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