Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast

Private Credit & Private Equity Continue to Get Crushed 4-13-26

1 min
•Apr 13, 20265 days ago
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Summary

Scott Becker discusses how major private equity and private credit firms are experiencing significant market declines year-to-date, with stock prices down 25-40% despite early signs of deal volume recovery. The episode highlights performance metrics for industry leaders including Blackstone, KKR, Apollo, and Ares Management.

Insights
  • Major PE/PC firms are experiencing severe valuation compression despite operational recovery signals in deal activity
  • Market performance is disconnected from deal pipeline improvement, suggesting investor sentiment remains pessimistic
  • Ares Management's 39% decline indicates private debt/credit strategies are underperforming relative to broader PE sector
  • Scale does not insulate firms from market pressure—even trillion-dollar AUM leaders like Blackstone are down significantly
Trends
Private equity and private credit valuations under sustained pressure in 2026 marketsDeal volume recovery not translating to stock price appreciation for major firmsPrivate debt strategies underperforming traditional private equity approachesMarket skepticism toward alternative asset managers despite operational improvementsValuation gap between deal activity and public market perception of PE/PC sector
Companies
Blackstone
Largest PE/alternative fund company with $1T+ AUM, down 25.5% year-to-date
KKR
Major private equity firm, down 28% year-to-date despite market recovery signals
Apollo Global Management
Leading PE and private credit firm, down approximately 28% year-to-date
Ares Management
Largest predominantly private debt/credit firm, down nearly 40% year-to-date
People
Scott Becker
Host presenting analysis of private equity and private credit market performance
Quotes
"private credit and private equity continue to get crushed in the markets, even though they're starting to see a little bit of a recovery in deal volume"
Scott Becker
"Blackstone is down 25.5% year-to-date. It's the largest of the private equity alternative fund companies with over a trillion assets under management"
Scott Becker
"Eris Management is currently down almost 40% year-to-date. That's the biggest sort of predominantly private debt type of firm, private credit, private debt"
Scott Becker
Full Transcript
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and the Becker Business Podcast. Today's discussion is, private credit and private equity continue to get crushed in the markets, even though they're starting to see a little bit of a recovery in deal volume. Just to give you a sense of how the biggest private credit and private equity firms are doing year-to-date. Blackstone is down 25.5% year-to-date. It's the largest of the private equity alternative fund companies with over a trillion assets under management. Second, KKR, one of the great names in private equity is down 28% year-to-date. Third, Apollo Go-Bit Management, and all these are being in private credit and private equity, is also down about 28% year-to-date. Finally, fourth, in the same vein, Eris Management is currently down almost 40% year-to-date. That's the biggest sort of predominantly private debt type of firm, private credit, private debt. And so they're down about 39% year-to-date. So again, the headline today, private equity and private credit continue to get crushed. And there's a rundown of four of the big firms. Thank you for listening to the Becker Business and the Becker Private Equity Podcast.