By John Riordan, Managing Director, Head of Business Development and Investor Relations at PFG
As of this writing, BlackRock has $11.58 trillion under management. That makes it bigger than the world’s third and fourth largest economies combined. However, as capital scales up, agility tends to scale down. Investment returns become cyclical and market-driven. Mega fund firms often trade nuance for standardization in their quest for large, repeatable investments. Individual attention and local nuance diminish, and size alone doesn’t guarantee access.
The firms best positioned to lend into high-growth tech hubs aren’t necessarily the biggest. They’re those who are embedded, fluent in local dynamics, and willing to tailor capital to complexity. What sets them apart isn’t scale, but structure and situational expertise.
For institutional investors, global diversification is no longer optional. It’s become a portfolio imperative. Even global giants like BlackRock are ramping up private credit exposure across geographies, yet achieving true diversification in this asset class remains challenging. Most capital remains concentrated in a handful of mature markets, while high-growth economies are often overlooked. Finding true geographic diversification means identifying managers who can spot opportunities amid complexity across regions with confidence, creativity, and control.
The Global Private Debt Gap
You may not be surprised to learn that the majority of private credit still flows to North America and Europe. However, the extent to which it is remarkable. Based on IMF and Preqin data, about 93% of global private debt assets under management are concentrated in those two regions. Aksia’s 2025 Private Credit Outlook tells the same story. That means if you’re looking for private credit in growth markets like the GCC, Asia Pacific, or Latin America, you may be fighting an uphill battle.
In Asia, private credit represents just 0.2% of total corporate credit. That’s the lowest penetration of any major region. Even in tech-forward economies like Singapore, Indonesia, the UAE, and Mexico, institutional private debt capital is limited compared to private equity financing.
This is a real dilemma for limited partners seeking new opportunities. Meaningful diversification can be challenging when so few managers have the experience and operational reach to deploy outside core North American markets. Investors may be forced to overweight regions with high capital saturation and the consequential credit beta offered in return. Meanwhile, underexposed but thriving innovation hubs remain underfinanced, leaving opportunities underfinanced and overlooked, providing opportunities for alpha.
Where the Capital Goes: Private Credit vs. Venture Capital by Region (2024)
|
Region |
Private Credit AUM (%) |
Venture Capital Investment (%) |
|
North America |
70–75% |
48% |
|
Europe |
20–25% |
22% |
|
Asia-Pacific |
5% |
20% |
|
Latin America |
2% |
6% |
|
Middle East & Africa |
1% |
4% |
Source: Preqin (2024), IMF Global Financial Stability Report (Apr 2024), Crunchbase (2024)
What Real Global Reach Requires
Deploying private credit globally takes more than capital. Bain’s 2025 Global Private Equity Report found that capital deployment across global regions stalls because of execution frictions such as local regulation, sourcing networks, and the absence of standardized legal frameworks.
Regulatory Navigation
There’s no copy-paste model for all cross-border lending. Each market comes with its own specific legal frameworks, tax policies, and central bank restrictions. In Southeast Asia, for example, tech lenders face a patchwork of digital finance laws and licensing requirements. Global managers need teams who can appreciate the scope of these considerations and structure investments accordingly. Without an experienced team and an established framework, deals often stall, or never reach the table in the first place.
Local Sourcing & Ecosystem Access
In underpenetrated markets, origination doesn’t come through auction-style banker pitches. It comes from founder referrals, VC syndicates, investor relationships and development finance institutions with feet on the ground. That’s where firms with diversified and non-sponsored deal flow and local credibility can outperform.
A Repeatable Execution Model
Finally, without a repeatable execution model, “global” becomes more of a headline than a capability. Firms that can underwrite cross-border deals with local fluency may outperform those chasing one-off global exposure. They price risk in-market, track real-time signals, and adapt post-close.
This operational rigor matters for institutional investors. The right managers can offer short-duration, covenant-rich facilities with local currency protections and structures targeting strong recovery capacity. They can deliver pacing, downside protection, and faster Distributions to Paid-In Capital (DPI) in places where others see only complexity.
What LPs Should Ask Before Backing a “Global” Credit Manager
- Where are your local teams based, and what do they underwrite?
Real presence and experience beat remote claims. - How do you navigate regional regulatory risk?
A vague answer is a red flag. - What percent of your deal flow is non-sponsored?
Signals origination strength beyond PE networks. - How consistent is your execution across markets?
Look for a documented, repeatable process. - Who are your regional partners?
Credentialed global and trusted local investors add sourcing and structuring value.
Case Studies: What Execution Looks Like on the Ground
In private markets, edge comes from execution. These two case studies show how operationally capable lenders can navigate complexity and deploy capital effectively.
Tabby: Structuring for Scale in the GCC
Tabby, a leading shopping and financial services app in the Middle East, needed a flexible capital solution to keep pace with its rapid growth in a region with limited credit infrastructure. With modest credit card penetration and a dominant cash-on-delivery culture, Tabby offered a compelling alternative—partnering with merchants to originate short-term, interest-free consumer installments. As governments in the GCC moved to define regulatory frameworks for emerging fintech models, Tabby’s early traction made it a prime candidate for structured credit.
PFG structured a receivables-backed facility designed for the nuances of Tabby’s business—short-dated, diversified consumer loans secured by high-quality merchant receivables. The facility featured an advance rate against eligible assets and equity subordination to align incentives. As Tabby scaled, PFG not only expanded its financing but also brought in additional lenders to support the company’s trajectory. Since the initial facility, Tabby has raised over $600M from top-tier investors including Sequoia and PayPal Ventures. In February 2025, Tabby announced a Series E raise of $160M, valuing it at $3.3B, which positions it as one of the highest-valued fintechs (if not the top) in the MENA region.
Kredivo: Lending into Southeast Asia’s Digital Boom
Kredivo is one of Indonesia’s leading digital lenders. They were serving millions of underbanked users, but capital constraints challenged their growth. Across the broader region, the regulatory landscape was fragmented which deterred most global managers.
PFG worked with local counsels to structure an asset-backed facility tailored to help Kredivo advance Indonesia’s evolving credit infrastructure. The deal utilized real-time collateral performance data and a capital-efficient draw structure, with downside protection provided through asset and servicer-level covenants, group-level security, and meaningful equity subordination — all while enabling rapid scaling.
Where Global Scale Meets Its Limits
Institutional allocators tend to believe that only the largest multinational financial institutions have the reach and infrastructure to lend across borders. Global banks have the size. By all measures, they seem like they’re positioned to serve any market, any time.
Scale doesn’t always map to suitability. Many global platforms prioritize lower-risk strategies of scale and may not be willing to take custom, active approaches best suited for lending to high-growth borrowers in innovation sectors across global economies. Many restrict themselves to low-risk, vanilla assets. This can limit participation in deals requiring speed, customization, or local fluency.
When institutional investors want true access to global growth-stage credit, they need managers built for complexity. Meaning: not just big. Nimble.
Sizing Up Real Global Reach
Allocators evaluating global private credit managers need to update their diligence lens. Traditional filters (AUM, vintage year, strategy type) aren’t enough. In markets where capital gaps are wide and structures can be complex, a manager’s ability to operate on the ground turns complexity into opportunity. It is necessary to source managers that appreciate these nuances and can tailor capital solutions to the demands of each market.
Truly global perspectives provide differentiated insights and access to opportunities where private debt remains under-deployed, laying the foundation for long-term portfolio contribution. Across global economies, the next decade of private capital growth is unlikely to be driven by equity alone. Investors seeking real diversification may find it in firms that can deliver structured credit to markets that can scale.
Rethink What Global Access Looks Like
Global reach depends more on execution capacity than the size of the investor. In underpenetrated markets, institutional allocators should look beyond AUM and assess a manager’s ability to operate with fluency, consistency, and local credibility. In private credit’s next phase, the edge will belong to firms that can navigate regional and structural complexity. These firms won’t just deploy capital that produces market beta but will deliver customized capital solutions and differentiated outcomes.
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The views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Any such offer will be made only to qualified investors through confidential offering documents. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
