More investors flee Blue Owl funds as private credit fears deepen | CNN Business

A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. Until recently, Blue Owl Capital’s name was synonymous on Wall Street with the booming business of private credit, a lightly regulated area of finance in which non-banks lend money to risky companies. Lately, though, its name has come to embody the $1.8 trillion industry’s vulnerabilities. Blue Owl has shed 40% of its market value this year, and its stock (OWL) sank again on Thursday after it revealed a massive surge in requests from investors wanting to yank their money, forcing the firm to cap withdrawals. Blue Owl said in a letter that it received requests to pay out 41% of its $6 billion tech-focused fund (up from 15.4% the previous quarter) and 22% of its $36 billion flagship fund (up from just 5%). The lender is honoring just a fraction of those requests, paying out 5% from each fund. Blue Owl shares fell 9% early Thursday before recovering and ending the day down 1.5%. Shares of other big players in private credit, such as Apollo Global and Ares Management, also fell. Why Wall Street is calling out ‘echoes’ of the 2008 financial crisis Blue Owl exe