Mideast Private Credit Bets Rising ‘Significantly,’ Monroe Says - Bloomberg

Mideast Private Credit Bets Rising ‘Significantly,’ Monroe Says - Bloomberg

Private credit lender Monroe Capital LLC is looking to forge long-term partnerships with investors in the Middle East with its new office in Abu Dhabi.

“The Middle East is the fastest growing market today, with Asia, for private credit investing, because investors in the region have a very long-term investment horizon,” Ted Koenig, the chief executive officer of the Chicago-based firm told Bloomberg TV. “Generally, they are younger economies and they can take more risk.”

State-owned funds in the Gulf have become a driving force behind the breakneck growth of the $1.7 trillion private credit market, even as higher interest rates have started to put pressure on borrowers that binged on debt.

Investors in the region are enthusiastic about the asset class that’s outperformed private equity and public credit, and “allocations are going up significantly,” Koenig said.