“Investors need to understand that private markets don’t have the same degree of transparency as public markets.”

If we’ve seen one version of this quote, we’ve seen a million. Private credit and opacity are the media’s favorite couple. One would think sophisticated investors simply hand over capital to managers, then wait in the dark for signs of life.

Conflating “lack of publicly available information” with “lack of pricing” is central to this misconception. There is no shortage of materials for investors to develop well-informed understandings of the asset class. For example, BDC investors, and for that matter the general public, receive detailed filings, have access to earnings calls and thought leadership pieces, which are becoming even more prevalent today.