Apollo curbs withdrawals after exit requests hit 17%, reigniting fears over private credit liquidity

Apollo is halting investor redemptions in its primary retail-focused private credit fund after it was rocked by a near-17% spike in withdrawal requests through the second quarter.

The private markets large stated it’s going to cap withdrawals at 5% of shares within the Apollo Debt Options car, after buyers rushed to tug out about $2.4 billion, or 16.8%, through the three-month interval.

“Taken collectively, we count on web outflows from ADS can be roughly $400 million for the second quarter of 2026 and year-to-date, representing 3% of NAV,” Apollo stated in a submitting with the Securities and Trade Fee printed on Monday.

It highlighted a “notable regional cut up” in second-quarter withdrawal requests, with U.S. onshore purchasers trying to pull out about 4.3%, whereas redemptions from offshore buyers jumped to 12.5%.

The transfer comes after the $26 billion fund — a non-traded enterprise improvement firm which presents rich retail buyers publicity to higher-yielding private credit property — noticed an 11.2% spike in withdrawal requests within the earlier quarter.

The fund has a large publicity to U.S. software program corporations. “We consider challenges are largely confined to the software program sector,” Apollo stated.

The redemption spike as soon as once more spotlights the liquidity pressures which have engulfed world private markets this yr.

So-called ‘semi-liquid’ private debt automobiles have been topic to a wave of redemption stress this yr, as buyers look to tug their cash amid rising anxieties over asset high quality, and as funds battle to reconcile the less-liquid nature of private property and the retail wealth channel.

“We’re discovering in actual time that you may’t provide close to‑each day liquidity on genuinely illiquid property with out finally testing the plumbing, and 2026 is the yr these buildings get rewritten,” stated Sunaina Sinha Haldea, world head of private capital advisory at Raymond James.

Earlier this month, Blackstone stated it had restricted investor withdrawals from its flagship $79 billion Blackstone Private Credit Fund, or BCRED, to five%, after they surged to 10% through the second quarter.

Throughout the Atlantic, Switzerland’s Companions Group just lately warned it could curb redemptions in a number of of its private asset automobiles following a surge in exit requests.

“Redemption stress in evergreen private credit is not only a credit story, it is a structural one,” Haldea informed CNBC through e-mail.

She warned that the ‘wrap-it-for-retail-and-the-money-will-come’ part in private credit markets is over, including that weaker evergreen private credit funds danger going through gates, outflows and misplaced shelf area, as fundraising consolidates round private markets managers with sturdy governance, liquidity controls and shopper schooling.