Investors bullish on returns

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Private debt’s recent outperformance of private equity has bolstered faith in its ability to beat performance benchmarks.

Another boost was given to believers in a private debt ‘golden age’ last week, with a report from Bloomberg suggesting private debt fund returns beat those for private equity for two quarters in a row in the second and third quarters of last year.

Jeff Boswell, head of alternative credit at asset manager Ninety One, told Bloomberg this “makes sense” given the constant coupon being delivered by private debt at a time when the drying up of the M&A market slowed private equity distributions.