Stanger: BDC Fundraising Down 74% YoY as Credit Pullback Intensifies
Alternative investment fundraising totaled approximately $11.8 billion in April 2026, down 33% from April 2025 and nearly 25% from March 2026. Through the first four months of 2026, investment banking firm Robert A. Stanger & Company Inc. said total fundraising reached approximately $59.3 billion, down 14% year-over-year.
The decline in business development company fundraising, the central storyline of 2026, intensified sharply in April, according to Stanger. Combined publicly registered and private placement BDC sales totaled approximately $1.6 billion, down 74% from April 2025 and the lowest monthly total since May 2023. BDC fundraising has declined sequentially each month in 2026, bringing year-to-date combined BDC fundraising to approximately $10.8 billion, down 52% from the same period in 2025.
Broader credit strategy fundraising showed similar pressure. Total credit fundraising declined 63% year-over-year to approximately $3.7 billion in April, the lowest monthly total since May 2023. Year-to-date credit fundraising reached approximately $23.6 billion, down 36% from the same period in 2025. Credit strategies accounted for just 32% of total April fundraising, down from 56% a year ago.
Outside of credit, fundraising trends were more resilient. Excluding credit strategies, alternative investment fundraising totaled approximately $8.1 billion in April, up 4% year-over-year. HALO strategies – hard assets with low obsolescence – continued to attract capital, with combined real estate and infrastructure fundraising reaching approximately $17.2 billion through April, up 20% from the same period in 2025. Infrastructure strategies alone rose 24% on a year-to-date basis, while real estate strategies gained 16%.
“The BDC sector is now firmly in the downturn phase of the Stanger Liquidity Cycle – fundraising is contracting, redemption demand remains elevated, and investor capital is rotating out of private credit,” said Kevin T. Gannon, chairman and chief executive officer of Stanger.
“What’s notable is that the broader alternative investment market outside of credit is holding up. Capital isn’t leaving alternatives — it’s leaving credit,” Gannon said. “Hard asset strategies continue to show relative strength on a year-to-date basis, and we expect that shift to remain a defining feature of the market in the coming months.”
The top 20 sponsors by year-to-date gross fundraising are summarized in the table below. The top five were Blackstone (approximately $7.3 billion), Ares Management Corporation (approximately $5.2 billion), KKR (approximately $4.9 billion), Stepstone Private Wealth (approximately $3.56 billion), and Cliffwater (approximately $3.4 billion).
Founded in 1978, Robert A. Stanger & Company is an investment banking firm providing advisory, valuation, and capital markets services to real estate investment trusts, partnerships, and related entities.
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