Key Takeaways
- • Johanna Krüger, Head of Institutional Investor Relations at Kilde, told the Hubbis Middle East Private Capital Forum 2026 that wealth managers should test private credit managers on rejected deals, valuations, amendments, liquidity, leverage and fees rather than headline yield.
- • Krüger argued that proprietary sourcing claims should be verified: allocators should ask which transactions were sourced through relationships versus broadly marketed to competing lenders.
- • Returns should be checked with a cash test, separating realised repayments from accrued or payment-in-kind (PIK) interest and examining outliers across the loan book.
- • Krüger's team used the phrase "amend and pretend" to describe covenant breaches resolved through extensions or amendments rather than enforcement, and said repeated amendments warrant close scrutiny.
- • Liquidity claims should be reconciled with loan maturities, cash collections, redemption caps and gates, and investors should know how much of the portfolio can be converted to cash within three or six months.
- • Investors should trace leverage, including NAV facilities, and all fee layers, including borrower-paid arrangement, monitoring and advisory charges, to their net return.
Summary
At the Hubbis Middle East Private Capital Forum 2026, Johanna Krüger, Head of Institutional Investor Relations at Kilde, asked wealth managers to look beyond a private credit manager's accepted deals and headline yield, arguing that the loans it rejected, the exceptions it allowed and its handling of troubled borrowers may be more revealing. Kilde is a Singapore-based, regulated private credit manager focused on senior secured, asset-backed finance for non-bank lenders. According to the article, Krüger began by noting private credit's growth to an estimated USD 3 trillion global asset class, but said such a figure says little about the loans in any particular fund, since corporate direct lending, receivables finance and other asset-backed strategies differ in duration, security and loss mechanisms.
Krüger challenged manager vocabulary such as proprietary sourcing and discipline. If several large lenders bid for the same financing, she said, the winner should not present the deal as exclusive. She urged investors to ask what the investment committee rejected, what non-negotiable collateral and covenant requirements apply, and how many holdings required an exception.
On track records, Krüger suggested examining unusually strong or weak transactions and comparing realised cash returns with unrealised marks and accrued PIK interest, which is added to loan balances rather than paid in cash. For troubled loans, she asked when and why values changed and who marks the book. Her team's phrase "amend and pretend" described covenant breaches handled through extensions or amendments; she said investors should see the breach, alternative remedies and revised economics, and that repeated changes deferring recognition of weak credits warrant closer scrutiny.
On liquidity, Krüger asked what share of the portfolio could realistically be converted to cash within three or six months, and said gate sizes and treatment of queued requests should be known before subscription. She noted Kilde's underlying receivables can run about 90 to 120 days for some lending assets, though short tenor alone does not guarantee redemptions. She also urged scenario analysis tracing borrowers' economies, such as energy shocks affecting importing and exporting countries differently.
Finally, Krüger addressed leverage and fees. NAV loans against fund assets can finance distributions before underlying loans repay, which can lift internal rates of return, so investors should know how much cash came from borrowers versus financing. She proposed following one dollar of gross loan yield through every expense and incentive calculation to the investor's net receipt, including borrower-paid arrangement, monitoring and advisory charges earned by affiliates.
Krüger challenged manager vocabulary such as proprietary sourcing and discipline. If several large lenders bid for the same financing, she said, the winner should not present the deal as exclusive. She urged investors to ask what the investment committee rejected, what non-negotiable collateral and covenant requirements apply, and how many holdings required an exception.
On track records, Krüger suggested examining unusually strong or weak transactions and comparing realised cash returns with unrealised marks and accrued PIK interest, which is added to loan balances rather than paid in cash. For troubled loans, she asked when and why values changed and who marks the book. Her team's phrase "amend and pretend" described covenant breaches handled through extensions or amendments; she said investors should see the breach, alternative remedies and revised economics, and that repeated changes deferring recognition of weak credits warrant closer scrutiny.
On liquidity, Krüger asked what share of the portfolio could realistically be converted to cash within three or six months, and said gate sizes and treatment of queued requests should be known before subscription. She noted Kilde's underlying receivables can run about 90 to 120 days for some lending assets, though short tenor alone does not guarantee redemptions. She also urged scenario analysis tracing borrowers' economies, such as energy shocks affecting importing and exporting countries differently.
Finally, Krüger addressed leverage and fees. NAV loans against fund assets can finance distributions before underlying loans repay, which can lift internal rates of return, so investors should know how much cash came from borrowers versus financing. She proposed following one dollar of gross loan yield through every expense and incentive calculation to the investor's net receipt, including borrower-paid arrangement, monitoring and advisory charges earned by affiliates.
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