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This super giant had Bathla loans. It still believes in private credit

Reported by Afr
Oct 25, 2026· 2 min read
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Key Takeaways
  • • Australian Retirement Trust (ART), a $370 billion superannuation fund, has roughly $10 billion of exposure to private credit, according to the Australian Financial Review.
  • • ART's investment committee has asked CIO Ian Patrick and his team to closely review the health of private credit holdings in Australia and the United States as scrutiny of the sector has intensified over the past 12 months.
  • • Patrick continues to back private credit as an allocation despite the fund having held loans linked to Bathla, the source article's headline reference.
  • • The article frames the review as a deeper due-diligence exercise rather than a retreat from the asset class.
Summary
Ian Patrick, chief investment officer of Australian Retirement Trust, a superannuation fund with $370 billion under management, is maintaining his support for private credit even though the fund held loans tied to Bathla, according to the Australian Financial Review. The headline frames the fund's exposure to the lending firm as a test of its continued conviction in the asset class.

ART carries a $10 billion allocation to private credit. As scrutiny of the sector has increased over the past 12 months, the fund's investment committee has directed Patrick and his team to examine the health of those investments in both Australia and the United States. The request reflects heightened oversight of private lending portfolios rather than a change in strategic allocation.

The article's opening notes that Patrick had not anticipated having to take on hands-on credit inspection work, a remark that underscores how far portfolio monitoring has expanded for allocators in the sector. Further detail on loan performance, recoveries, or specific valuation impacts from the Bathla exposure is not available in the source material.

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Sources

1 outlet

AlphaMaven summarised this story from the reporting below. Each link opens the original article.

Afr This super giant had Bathla loans. It still believes in private credit