The worry hanging over private credit: Can anyone trust the numbers?
Investors allege Wall Street’s biggest names inflated their marks.
The uncertainty surrounding private credit is centered on the question of whether investors can trust the reported values of loans held by these companies. A prime example is Kellermeyer Bergensons Services, a major privately held janitor service in the United States. Its shares have lost all value, and the loans backed by its major financial supporter, a private-credit arm of KKR, have been valued anywhere from nearly full to around ten cents on the dollar.
This situation has raised concerns within the private credit industry, prompting regulators to issue a warning about the need for greater diligence in loan valuation and risk disclosure. The discrepancy in valuations could be attributed to the flexibility private lenders have in assessing the worth of their holdings, with a financial incentive to maintain higher values to avoid scrutiny.
Regulators are increasingly scrutinizing these practices, which could have ripple effects on the broader financial market.
Written by urgent.news from Semafor's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
