About Blue Owl

• Founded: 2021 (through merger of Owl Rock Capital Partners, Dyal Capital Partners, and Neuberger Berman alternatives)

• Headquarters: New York, United States

• AUM: $235bn as of 2024

• Strategy: Direct lending, GP capital solutions, real estate — permanent capital vehicles across alternative credit and equity

• Track record: Over $100bn deployed in direct lending since 2016; GP stakes platform launched 2010; continuation vehicle transactions across credit, private equity, and real estate since 2020

• Leadership: Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, co-CEOs

Blue Owl led a €355m continuation vehicle for Veld Capital's credit portfolio, marking one of the larger CV transactions in European direct lending this year. The transaction allowed existing LPs to exit or roll into the new vehicle while extending hold periods on underlying credit assets. Blue Owl's dual role as lead investor and permanent capital allocator positions it to anchor single-asset and portfolio CVs where liquidity timelines diverge from asset fundamentals.

The deal reflects a secondary market pattern emerging in credit strategies — GPs use CVs to manage fund maturity pressure while preserving carry on portfolios that benefit from extended recovery cycles or refinancing optionality. Blue Owl closed a $2.8bn secondaries fund in 2023 focused on credit and GP-led transactions, and led a $1.2bn CV for a European private debt manager in early 2024. Pricing on these credit CVs has firmed relative to 2022–2023, when secondary buyers discounted distressed or watchlist exposures at 70–80 cents on NAV. The Veld transaction size and Blue Owl's participation suggest the portfolio carried minimal mark volatility.

What bears watching: whether credit CVs migrate from niche rescue structures to standard liquidity tools for direct lending managers with 7–10 year fund lives. If credit marks hold and LPs grow comfortable with mid-fund exits, GPs may normalize CVs as a portfolio management mechanism rather than a stress signal. The counter-risk is that widespread CV use in credit creates secondary overhang if buyer appetite narrows or defaults materialize in extended portfolios.

Source: Secondaries Investor