2026 M&A Private Credit Study: Market Outlook & Predictions
Private credit continues to enjoy strong secular tailwinds, but industry professionals say the market is becoming increasingly complex and competitive. While demand for private capital remains robust, executives expect greater dispersion among managers as specialization, underwriting discipline and relationship-driven origination become more important differentiators.
In our inaugural study on private credit, Mergers & Acquisitions surveyed leading professionals to gauge their views on the market’s evolution. The findings below are from over 20 questions we asked professionals about where the market is and where it is going, identify trends in areas such as the secondaries private credit market redemption requests concerns, and the industry’s view of artificial intelligence and the impact it’s likely to have.
We are running the study over two days:
- July 6 – The Private Credit Market Outlook & Predictions
- Characterizing of the current private credit market
- Consensus beliefs about private credit believed to be wrong today
- July 7 – Risk & Performance Metrics / AI & Private Credit
- Whether or not redemption requests are a problem for the industry
- What’s driving the secondary market in private credit and will it be a long-term trend
- Whether AI will reduce the competitive advantages of large lending platforms