American private-credit firm. On February 18th 2026 Blue Owl halted planned withdrawals from OBDC II, a retail fund with assets of $1.6bn, choosing instead to sell assets and return capital to all investors. The fund had used a model popularised by Blackstone's Real Estate Income Trust (launched 2017), which offers limited liquidity: investors can request redemptions each month or quarter, but the fund processes total redemptions worth up to only 5% of its net asset value each quarter; requests exceeding that figure are capped and granted pro rata.
Mohamed El-Erian, an investor, pondered whether Blue Owl's troubles were a dead coalmine canary or something worse—like termites, indicating deep structural problems in private credit. The news sent shockwaves through the industry: half a dozen listed private-investment managers lost a combined $100bn in market value since the start of 2026. OBDC II cast doubt on the model that firms such as Apollo, Blackstone and KKR—which collectively oversee $3trn in assets, up from $200bn in 2008—had hoped would "democratise" private investment by enticing retail savers into unlisted assets.
Blue Owl is focused on tech firms and grew from $50bn of assets under management in 2021 to more than $300bn by early 2026. In January 2026 it allowed more than 15% of shares in one fund to be redeemed, hoping to satisfy investors; that did not stop further runs. It suspended redemptions at another fund, which it appeared to be winding down. On April 2nd it capped withdrawals at 5% for two of its funds after redemption requests surged to 40.7% and 21.9%. Shares in the asset manager lost two-thirds of their value from their peak at the beginning of 2025. Blue Owl is also a big lender to data-centre projects. Cox Capital Partners, a secondaries-investment firm, has offered to buy out (at a discount) investors in OBDC II.
"The value of marriage is not that adults produce children, but that children produce adults."