在股市和房产市场滑坡的推动下，来自香港与内地的富豪投资者纷纷转向私募债务以追逐高达1.7万亿美元行业的巨大收益。尽管警告声中指出违约率正在上升，一些在香港的大家庭办公室，比如 ，开始效仿全球同行，增加对由如 、 等公司提供的替代资产的投资。其他财富管理者则直接参与到私债交易之中，部分投资能获得超过20%的回报。
在需求增强背景下，香港资产管理分支正向亚洲客户推广由CVC Capital Partners Plc和黑石管理的多个私募债务基金，知情人士透露。对此，“私人信贷显然吸引了更多来自富裕投资者的兴趣。”位于香港、某公司私人投资团队负责人孟周表示。“从去年开始，我们就重新审视了私债领域。”他说。
尽管全球范围内，私募债务对许多借款人而言已成为银行之外的选择并蓬勃成长，但在亚洲这一模式并未有太多机会，因为该地区的银行过去一直资本充足。但随着中国香港和内地股市以及房产市场因对中国第二大大经济体持续放缓的担忧而下滑，这种情况现在变得吸引人起来。
香港与中国的股市在周二有所喘息，中央银行对经济采取了刺激措施。其中包括高达5.3万亿美元的房贷以及至少8000亿元人民币（约1140亿美元）为股票市场提供的流动性支持。此举包括针对部分关键领域的定向援助政策。吸引投资者转向私募债务的一个原因是他们能够获得押记贷款的最高年均11%-12%回报，并且获取比私募股权更快的现金。孟周说。
在与公共债务市场的流动性相比而言较小的情况下，缺乏快速退出路径可能会导致大亏损。基金向投资者披露其资产配置及业绩表现的义务远少于其公开上市等同类产品。同时，监管机构对私债资金流动的关注程度也在提高，而投资者的收益增长速度放缓且违约率提升。
全球范围内私募债务的违约率为约20%，主要因违反协议条款与修改情况，这是大卫森-肯纳尔资本管理公司副联席合伙人Keith Wong上周在一次论坛上提到的情况。Nan Fung公司已从几月前专注于为私募股权企业领导的杠杆收购交易提供资金的基金中调整策略。
相比之下，Carret财富管理机构执行合伙兼创始人霍某表示该机构今年已经向混合基金和私债交易投入约4亿美元，涉及14%到22%的回报。Carret在过去八年中协助众多高净值个人在港投资近10亿人民币高档物业。
Carret还参与了一笔205万美元的一年期贷款延期，这是为霍氏家族提供的，该家族虽低调但拥有香港峰景等优质资产作支撑。Carret计划参加Gaw Capital的一只私募债务基金发起的活动。尽管诱人的回报令人难以抗拒，但是投资者还需注意到私债相比公债市场的流动性较低。
基金通常受制于赎回限制以避免强制性出售不流动资产，而Nan Fung Trinity公司Zhou说，他们仅投资于那些允许合伙人返回资金后才能取出资本的“封闭策略”。虽然半流动性基金提供了较好的流动性特性，但回报往往较低，以补偿流动性不足。因此，Zhou提醒投资者在订阅流动性受限或不流动的基金时，应当关注交易条款以及任何流动性限制情况，确保对将要承担的风险有清晰了解。
这些改进后的版本在保留原文核心内容和信息的同时，更加符合中国读者的语言习惯与阅读偏好。
新闻来源：www.bloomberg.com
原文地址：Rich Chinese Chase 22% Yields in Private Credit Despite Default Risks
新闻日期：2024-09-24
原文摘要：
Sliding stock and property markets are pushing wealthy investors from Hong Kong and mainland China into private credit to chase big yields in the $1.7 trillion industry despite warnings of rising defaults.Some of Hong Kong’s biggest family offices including are following global peers to ramp up investments in alternative assets offered by firms such as and . Others like wealth manager are investing in direct private credit deals, with some offering returns of more than 20%.Amid stronger demand, ’s wealth management arm is marketing various private credit funds including those managed by CVC Capital Partners Plc and Blackstone to Asian clients, according to people familiar with the matter.“There’s definitely more interest from wealthy investors in private credit,” said Meng Zhou, head of private investment team at , a unit of in Hong Kong. Since last year, “we started to revisit private credit,” he said.While private credit, which has become an alternative to banks for many borrowers, has boomed globally, there’s been less opportunity for it in Asia where banks have historically been well capitalized. But it’s now become attractive for investors with both stocks and property markets in Hong Kong and China retreating amid concerns over a deepening slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.Stocks in Hong Kong and China had some relief Tuesday, rallying after the central bank for the economy. That included on as much as $5.3 trillion in mortgages and providing at least 800 billion yuan ($114 billion) in liquidity support for the equity market. One reason investors are drawn to private credit is they can get 11%-12% returns on senior loans secured by collateral and faster cash back than private equity, Zhou said. Read More: A survey by Deloitte and Raffles Family Office showed a quarter of family offices in Asia aimed to allocate more to private debt and direct lending this year — the same percentage globally — exceeding other asset classes including fixed income and private equity.“It’s been a challenging environment for fundraising, so a lot of general partners are turning to private wealth or family office money to plug that gap,” said Zhou. Nan Fung mostly invests in funds focused on direct lending to leveraged buyout deals led by private equity firms, he said.Carret, a wealth manager staffed by former private bankers, has deployed about $400 million this year into a mixture of funds and private credit deals, said , managing partner and founder of the firm. Returns on private credit investments have ranged from 14% to 22%, according to Ho, whose firm has helped wealthy individuals invest close to $1 billion in Hong Kong’s luxury properties over the past eight years.Carret participated in a $205 million one-year extended by to the Ho family, a low-profile Hong Kong clan, backed by properties at The Peak. Carret’s Ho, who has no relation to the family, said the loan carried a 16% interest. Gaw Capital launched a private credit fund, according to a spokesperson, which Carret plans to participate in. Despite the lure of fat returns, the lack of liquidity in private credit compared with public debt markets can lead to big losses if an investor wants a quick exit. Funds have fewer obligations than their publicly-traded equivalents when disclosing their holdings and investment performance.Regulators are also on private credit capital flows and for investors, profits are easing and defaults rising. Defaults in private credit are about , partly due to covenant breaches and modifications, , co-deputy managing partner at Davidson Kempner Capital Management told a forum last week., which began as a single family office backed by Hong Kong’s Tsang family but now takes money from external clients, has cut back on its exposure to private debt from a couple of years ago given better options in money markets.“The risk is on the borrower’s integrity,” said CEO Keith Wong. Winland provides trade financing to manufacturing companies that yields around 7% to 8% and funding for working capital, with 10% to 11% returns.But the appetite for alternative assets from high net worth individuals remains high. said sales of its semi-liquid fund products to Greater China surged this year. These funds are typically subject to redemption limits to avoid forced selling of illiquid assets.Nan Fung Trinity’s Zhou said the company has only invested in so-called close-ended strategies where investors can’t take money out until a general partner returns it. While semi-liquid funds offer better liquidity profile, the returns tend to be lower to compensate for the liquidity, he said. “We think investors, when they subscribe to semi-liquid or illiquid funds out there, they should pay close attention to the deal terms and any liquidity limitations, to make sure they understand exactly what they are signing up to,” Zhou said.
