Private Credit Cuts Pricing to Fend Off Wall Street Deal Grab

Private credit funds are pushing down their prices to keep contested deals from falling into the hands of Wall Street banks seeking to reassert their edge in lucrative leveraged lending.

The rivalry between upstart direct lenders and the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley is driving interest rate margins to new lows. Blackstone Inc. recently sought a $250 million loan at a rate of around 4.75 percentage points over the US benchmark to finance its planned purchase of Rover Group, in what would be one of the cheapest private credit loans on record, according to data compiled ...