Federal Reserve FEDS Notes·Nov 9, 2026, 12:30 PM ET

U.S. Private Credit Vehicles: Institutional Structure and Aggregate Balance Sheets

U.S.-domiciled private credit vehicles held approximately $1.9 trillion in assets at the end of 2025, representing an eightfold increase from roughly $240 billion in 2012.
Private debt (PD) funds are the largest category with $940 billion in assets, followed by business development companies (BDCs) at $570 billion, interval and tender offer funds at $290 billion, and middle-market collateralized loan obligations (MM CLOs) at $50 billion.
Private credit loans comprise about 80 percent of BDC assets and all MM CLO assets, whereas they account for only 57 percent of PD fund assets and 26 percent of interval and tender offer fund assets.
Leverage ratios vary significantly across vehicle types, with BDCs averaging a debt-to-equity ratio of around 1, PD funds around 0.25, and interval and tender offer funds around 0.05.
PD funds rely primarily on domestic banks for debt financing, while BDCs utilize both bank loans and corporate bonds, and interval and tender offer funds depend heavily on bank loans.
The expansion of private credit has broadened beyond traditional corporate direct lending to include real estate, infrastructure, equipment, receivables, inventories, consumer loans, royalties, and other financial assets.
Borrowers include middle-market nonfinancial corporations seeking speed, confidentiality, customized structures, or direct negotiation capabilities with lenders.
Differences in portfolio composition, leverage, and investor bases across vehicles are driven by regulatory architecture, liquidity obligations, and investor composition.
PD funds are closed-end vehicles limited to sophisticated investors with stable capital bases, while BDCs can be publicly traded, public non-traded, or private.
Interval funds offer mandatory periodic repurchases at net asset value, whereas tender offer funds provide discretionary repurchase opportunities.
The analysis utilizes newly published U.S. Financial Accounts statistics and data from sources including SEC Form PF, BDC Collateral, Morningstar, and Moody's Analytics.