Big Tech, Big Deals, Big Credit

Good morning, deal-makers.

Private credit just chalked up another record-setting week and it’s not just about fund sizes anymore, it’s about who’s getting the mandates, how platforms are scaling, and where the next trillion in capital could come from.

🧠 Deep Dive: Mega-Deals Meet Mega-Managers

🔑 Trigger
Meta just tapped PIMCO and Blue Owl for $2.9 billion in data center financing. One of the largest single private credit financings in the digital infrastructure space.

🏃‍♂️ Why it matters

• Shows big tech’s comfort with bypassing banks for long-dated, strategic capital.

• Underscores private credit’s push into asset-heavy, cash-flow-stable sectors.

• Proves that global brand names can now land club deals once thought bank-only territory.

💸 Knock-on effect
Expect more hyperscalers, AI infrastructure providers, and logistics giants to skip syndicated loans entirely in favour of direct lender clubs. Especially when they want discretion and certainty of execution.

⚡ How managers win

• Build sector coverage teams for digital infra, data, and energy transition assets.

• Have pre-arranged lending syndicates to write multi-billion checks in weeks, not months.

🏛️ Platform Expansion: Manulife Buys Comvest

The Canadian insurance giant is acquiring Comvest Partners, merging it with its existing credit business to form an $18.4 billion private credit unit.

Why it matters:

• Another sign of insurers using acquisitions to bulk up yield-generating private assets.

• Adds middle-market origination depth to a balance-sheet-heavy lender.

• Highlights the growing convergence between PE, private credit, and insurance capital.

Playbook takeaway: If you’re in mid-market origination or portfolio management, insurance-owned platforms are becoming prime growth engines and are hiring aggressively to scale.

💼 Policy Watch: 401(k)s & Private Markets

The White House is advancing an executive order to allow 401(k) plan sponsors to include private equity and private credit products.

Prize pool: $12–13 trillion in defined-contribution assets today, and up to $29 trillion if IRAs and rollovers are counted.

Big hurdle: Fee compression. Retail retirement products average 0.31% all-in; private market strategies will need creative structuring to clear fiduciary hurdles.

Implication: Retail capital inflows could accelerate the shift in who private credit managers see as their primary LPs, reshaping product design, reporting, and distribution.

📰 News Round-up

• Meta + PIMCO + Blue Owl: $2.9B data center financing sets a new benchmark for tech–credit partnerships.

• Manulife + Comvest: Creates an $18.4B credit platform with deep mid-market origination capacity.

• Regulation ahead: Industry executives brace for heightened oversight; many admit readiness gaps.

📘 Career Tactic: Hone Your Skillset for the 401(k) Capital Wave

The coming inclusion of private markets in 401(k)s isn’t just a policy footnote, it’s a skills test. Billions in retail capital will need careful deployment, and the firms best prepared will lead.

Focus areas:

• Retail investor literacy — Understand the compliance, product, and marketing differences vs. institutional LPs.

• Portfolio transparency — Get fluent in investor-friendly performance analytics and clear reporting.

• Distribution networks — Build relationships with RIAs, broker-dealers, and wealth platforms now.

• Scalable execution — Master processes for higher deal volume with smaller average tickets.

📌 Action this month: Choose one of the above and take tangible steps — a course, a project, or a mentor session. The wave is coming; the time to position is now.

🧭 TL;DR

✅ Big tech is now a repeat private credit borrower, with multi-billion checks in play.
✅ Insurance platforms are using M&A to build scale and origination depth.
✅ The 401(k) unlock could be the largest retail capital shift in private markets history.
✅ Skills in retail distribution, reporting, and scaled execution will be career gold.

Private credit’s opportunity set is widening at both ends. Billion-dollar deals at the top, and a tidal wave of smaller tickets from the retail channel. The firms (and professionals) who can do both will define the next era.

— James
Founder, Career.Credit & Futura Search Partners