Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq turn lower with oil prices, Walmart, Fed rate-cut bets in focus
The fund, which trades under the ticker OBDC, also announced on Wednesday that it would sell $1.4 billion worth of holdings to institutional investors, creating the liquidity for investors to get their capital back.
OBDC shares were down about 2% on Thursday.
Recent concerns about private credit have taken many forms, with the most potent being the exposure that investors in these vehicles might have to investments in software companies — a favorite of the alternative investment space — that may be worth less as a result of AI.
Less relevant to that discussion has been increased access to these vehicles, or those with similar characteristics. Say, for instance, ARK Invest’s Venture Fund, which gives retail investors access to private companies, but does not offer the liquidity that many retail investors may assume comes along with this (or any) investment.
Now, these fund sponsors, of course, spend countless hours making sure they are in compliance with SEC rules about letting prospective investors know what they can and cannot expect. And that investors know the terms of a certain fund are subject to change.
But the so-called democratization of finance has taken many forms. The latest and greatest is actually not these “retail private vehicles,” but prediction markets that sit alongside your online brokerage account which turn stock trading apps into sports betting venues.
The consistent blurring of all these lines, however, can often end up in the same place — retail investors not fully understanding what they’re buying or why things changed.
If you’re a professional investor, Jeremy Irons said it best in Margin Call: “We are selling to willing buyers at the current fair market price.”
If you’re a retail investor, you’re learning that the same applies to you, too.