Key Takeaways
- • Brad Foster, Head of Fixed Income and Private Debt at Bloomberg, says greater financing choice from private credit is reshaping corporate credit, requiring investors to understand risk across bonds, broadly syndicated loans and private direct lending.
- • Foster states that insurance companies and pension funds now allocate an average of 30% of their portfolios to private markets, with private credit a core part of those allocation strategies.
- • Foster identifies creditworthiness, the illiquidity premium and loan-specific characteristics as key valuation considerations, since direct observations and comparable pricing are mostly unavailable for private credit.
- • Foster stresses the need for normalized, interoperable reference and lifecycle data to build one consistent view across public and private portfolios.
Summary
A Bloomberg Professional Services insight piece published October 28, 2026, features a conversation between Brad Foster, Head of Fixed Income and Private Debt at Bloomberg, and Kevin McPartland, Head of Market Structure and Technology Research at Coalition Greenwich, on the growing connection between public and private credit markets.
According to Foster, expanding private credit is giving companies greater financing choice and the ability to diversify funding sources and tailor financing to their needs. As a result, investors increasingly need to understand opportunities and risks across bonds, broadly syndicated loans and private direct lending. Foster notes that asset owners, including insurance companies and pension funds, now allocate an average of 30% of their portfolios to private markets, with private credit very much a part of that allocation strategy.
Valuation and data are central to managing this interconnected market. Foster points to fundamental creditworthiness, the illiquidity premium and loan-specific characteristics as key considerations, particularly because direct observations and observed comparable pricing are mostly unavailable for private credit. He also emphasizes the importance of normalized, interoperable foundational reference and lifecycle data to bring public and private investments into a single consistent portfolio view.
The piece is a licensed recording reproduced from Crisil Coalition Greenwich's Behind the Market Structure series. It is framed as a promotional discussion of Bloomberg's data, valuation, analytics and workflow capabilities spanning bonds, bank loans and private direct lending.
According to Foster, expanding private credit is giving companies greater financing choice and the ability to diversify funding sources and tailor financing to their needs. As a result, investors increasingly need to understand opportunities and risks across bonds, broadly syndicated loans and private direct lending. Foster notes that asset owners, including insurance companies and pension funds, now allocate an average of 30% of their portfolios to private markets, with private credit very much a part of that allocation strategy.
Valuation and data are central to managing this interconnected market. Foster points to fundamental creditworthiness, the illiquidity premium and loan-specific characteristics as key considerations, particularly because direct observations and observed comparable pricing are mostly unavailable for private credit. He also emphasizes the importance of normalized, interoperable foundational reference and lifecycle data to bring public and private investments into a single consistent portfolio view.
The piece is a licensed recording reproduced from Crisil Coalition Greenwich's Behind the Market Structure series. It is framed as a promotional discussion of Bloomberg's data, valuation, analytics and workflow capabilities spanning bonds, bank loans and private direct lending.
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