Private debt funds returned 9.2 per cent over the past year, only beaten by private equity among private capital asset classes, according to PitchBook data.
The latest quarterly private capital index found that private capital overall – encompassing private equity, venture capital, real estate, real assets, private debt, funds of funds and secondaries – returned 7.4 per cent over a one-year period.
Private equity returned 9.5 per cent, while the beleaguered real estate sector recorded a 4.6 per cent loss.
Read more: Morningstar warns of risks due to private debt fundraising slog
The breakdown of private debt returns shows that mezzanine debt delivered the highest returns over the last year at 14.8 per cent.
Direct lending returned 11.5 per cent, and distressed debt performed least well at 5.3 per cent.
Read more: €6.6bn of private credit facilities were refinanced in H1
Looking at returns over a longer period, PitchBook found that private debt yielded 8.3 per cent over five years and 7.8 per cent over 10 years. This compares to overall private capital’s returns of 13.6 per cent over five years and 12.6 per cent over 10 years.
Read more: Established managers continue to dominate private debt fundraising
