BlackRock Halts Asia Credit Fundraising After HPS Merger, Analysts Predict Mixed Future.

BlackRock has halted fundraising for its Asia-Pacific private credit fund following its merger with HPS Investment Partners. Analysts predict a mixed future for BlackRock's stock price, with a one-year average target price of $1,157.96 and a possible downside of 7.48% according to GuruFocus estimates.

Title: BlackRock Pauses Fundraising for Asia-Pacific Private Credit Fund

BlackRock Inc. has paused fundraising for its latest Asian private credit strategy following its merger with HPS Investment Partners. This pause adds uncertainty to BlackRock's ambitions for the asset class in the region. The New York-based firm had targeted to raise about $1 billion for the third Asia-Pacific private credit fund, but fundraising came to a standstill earlier this year [1].

The pause in fundraising coincides with broader challenges facing BlackRock. A key investor, Arch Capital Group, is in talks to sell at least $350 million of certain stakes due to disappointing performance in some of BlackRock's private funds and a series of senior departures [1]. Additionally, BlackRock Asia-Pacific Private Credit Opp. Fund II had only secured less than half of its $1 billion target [1].

Furthermore, BlackRock and Abu Dhabi state-owned wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. mutually agreed to unwind their private credit partnership due to difficulty in sourcing deals [1]. These challenges underscore the ongoing difficulties in the global private credit market, where fundraising has slowed this year to $70 billion, accounting for just a tenth of alternative asset inflows [1].

Default rates for private credit deals are at 5.4%, when non-accrual loans are included, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. This puts private credit default rates broadly in line with the syndicated loan market and is raising alarm bells for some in Wall Street about under-appreciated risks in the asset class [1].

BlackRock's merger with HPS came as part of a larger push by its co-founder, Larry Fink, to cement the firm's future in private markets. The asset manager has also set its first-ever firmwide target for private market fundraising at $400 billion by 2030 [1].

Analysts predict a mixed future for BlackRock's stock price, with a one-year average target price of $1,157.96 and a possible downside of 7.48% according to GuruFocus estimates [2].

References

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-25/blackrock-paused-fundraising-for-latest-asia-private-credit-fund
[2] https://m.economictimes.com/markets/stocks/news/blackrock-pauses-fundraising-for-latest-asia-private-credit-fund/amp_articleshow/123500539.cms