Private Credit Gets Creative

📰 Welcome to career.credit

Good morning!

Private credit has always thrived on flexibility and now, that same creativity is reshaping how managers return capital to LPs.

This week’s headlines focus on a new trend gathering serious momentum: the rise of continuation funds in private credit.

This structural shift is reshaping liquidity options for LPs, extending the life of quality assets, and opening new doors for career growth in secondaries, portfolio management, and structured solutions.

Let’s break it down.

🏦 This Week’s Private Credit Headlines

📌 Continuation Funds: The Liquidity Playbook
Private credit managers are increasingly using continuation vehicles to roll existing loans into new funds.

Why? To give LPs an exit option without having to force a sale of high-performing assets, especially in today’s slower exit environment.

🔄 Bloomberg reports managers like Blue Owl, Ares, and Antares are quietly leaning into this strategy to solve a growing tension: how to return capital when exits are scarce.

💬 “We're giving our investors liquidity, and keeping good credits in the system,” said one GP quoted off-record.

It’s a playbook borrowed from private equity, but in credit, it’s still early days.

📚 Explainer: What Are Continuation Funds (and Why Now)?

A continuation fund is a new fund that “buys” assets from an older fund nearing the end of its life. It offers existing LPs an option:
👉 Cash out at a fair valuation
👉 Or roll into the new vehicle to stay exposed

In private equity, this model became popular as a way to extend ownership of outperforming companies. Now, private credit is adopting the same logic to retain strong loan assets and return capital efficiently.

Why this matters:

• 🔄 Secondaries surge: Credit secondaries are growing fast -continuation funds are a big part of that.

• 💧 Solves liquidity crunch: Exit markets remain slow - but LPs still want liquidity.

• 📊 Valuation transparency: Independent pricing and fairness opinions are key, as GPs manage conflicts of interest.

📈 As secondaries scale, expect more fund restructurings, GP-led deals, and bespoke continuation strategies.

💼 Career Insights: What This Means for Hiring

Continuation funds and secondaries aren’t just structural, they’re creating new demand for talent across the ecosystem.

Key areas seeing an uptick in hiring:

📌 Secondaries Investment Teams
Firms like Pantheon, Lexington, and HarbourVest are building out credit-focused secondaries teams. Experience in valuations, fund structuring, and complex liquidity solutions is a plus.

📌 Portfolio Management & Structuring Roles
Professionals who can navigate GP-led transactions and manage recycled assets are increasingly valuable.

📌 IR & Fund Solutions
Continuation vehicles require clear LP communication. Expect new roles in investor relations, secondaries sales, and client solutions.

📌 Legal & Compliance
More fund rollovers = more governance. Legal professionals with secondaries and continuation fund experience are in demand.

🧠 Deep Dive: Why Secondaries May Be Your Next Big Move

If you're mid-career and looking for differentiation, credit secondaries could be your edge. It combines fundamental credit work with fund structuring, negotiation, and capital markets exposure.

🧠 Roles are hybrid: you’ll flex credit, legal, and liquidity muscles
🧠 Compensation is catching up, some top teams now rival PE carry structures
🧠 Demand is surging across both managers and LPs

💡 Not sure where to start? Look at teams at Apollo, StepStone, Ares Secondaries, and smaller shops raising niche continuation vehicles.

💬 Final Thought

The continuation fund play is just the start.

Private credit is evolving structurally. New fund formats, liquidity pathways, and hybrid solutions are reshaping what it means to be a credit investor.

If you’re looking to future-proof your career, this is a trend worth exploring into.

— James
Founder, career.credit & Futura Search Partners