KKR Closed Its First Private Credit Continuation Vehicle at More Than $460 Million, With AllianzGI Leading:

KKR has closed its first private credit continuation vehicle (CV) with more than $460 million of total commitments, according to PitchBook, which cited market sources. Allianz Global Investors was the lead buyer. The vehicle holds the assets of KKR Lending Partners III, a $1.5 billion direct lending fund that completed fundraising in 2017. Existing investors were offered the choice of selling their interests for liquidity or rolling into the new vehicle on substantially the same terms. Evercore advised KKR and Debevoise acted as legal counsel.

Performance data cited by PitchBook from a KKR 10-Q shows KKR Lending Partners III generated an 11.0% net internal rate of return and a 1.7x multiple on invested capital as of June 30, 2026.

AllianzGI has emerged as a repeat lead in this segment. It is also the lead investor on Blackstone's $1 billion private credit continuation vehicle and co-led Crescent Capital's $3.2 billion credit continuation vehicle earlier this year. Allianz has invested in private credit since 2007, and AllianzGI launched its first dedicated private credit secondaries fund in 2022.

Credit continuation vehicles have moved quickly from niche to mainstream. Evercore data cited by PitchBook showed credit secondaries volume in the first half of 2026 alone surpassed full-year 2025 volume of $20 billion, with continuation vehicles accounting for most of it.

For limited partners in older direct lending vintages, the structure provides an exit without requiring a manager to sell loans into the market. The trade-off mirrors private equity GP-led deals: rolling investors extend exposure to a seasoned portfolio, while buyers such as AllianzGI price that portfolio. The terms of these transactions offer an increasingly useful indication of how secondary capital values aging private credit portfolios.