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When Dominic Ashcroft joined Blackstone in June from Goldman Sachs to head up the former’s European private credit origination strategy, it marked the latest high-profile name in leveraged finance to defect to private credit.

With fellow Goldman alumni Luke Gillam also leaving for AlbaCore and Apollo hiring Murad Khaled from Bank of America both in October last year, and Blackstone also adding Morgan Stanley’s Dan Leiter to its payroll in August 2024, 9fin reported in August 2025 how the likes of JPMorgan and Goldman are going all-in on private credit in a bid to regain market share.

I sat down with Dominic late September to discuss what enticed him about working for Blackstone in private credit, details on how Blackstone intends to deploy $200bn in credit assets over the next decade, how and where PC and LevFin markets can co-exist, and whether the clouds-on-the-horizon takes are justified.

1. It's been three months since you crossed the proverbial divide to private credit after 20 years in syndicated markets. What made you switch Goldman for Blackstone and head up European private credit origination?

I was at Goldman for over two decades. The people I worked alongside made it such a great place to work — many of whom are still very dear friends. But all good things come to an end. I led the GS leveraged finance function across EMEA before I left and for over 20 years I worked very closely with the private credit business. So private credit was an obvious fit, especially given the long-term secular shift towards the asset class. And we have continued to see an overlapping client base in terms of originating assets.

When I considered my next steps, I realised there isn’t anyone more at the forefront of this trend than Blackstone. With just over $500bn of credit AUM and up 2.5x in the last four years with a huge amount of runway, Blackstone is continuing to expand, including new areas such as investment-grade private credit and asset-backed lending, particularly here in Europe.

The continent remains an under-penetrated market with some real strong momentum looking ahead. Combining a borrower client mentality to help originate with investing and fundraising acumen is what made moving to Blackstone seem like a no-brainer.

2. How have your first 100 days in office been so far?

Having only worked at one institution for over two decades, there was definitely a degree of trepidation on my first day. But the team could not have been more welcoming.

Given the expansion of the group and growth of assets, there has been a huge focus internally on helping people transition. Blackstone has a really welcoming culture — I have been amazed at how flat the organisation is and the sense that everyone is working in the same direction.

The first 81 days — not that I’m counting! — have been a whirlwind of activity. I have spent a lot of time getting to know my team here and in New York, really getting straight into re-engaging with clients and helping them find solutions for their businesses.

Our private credit investment team in Europe comprises over 55 professionals, a genuine differentiator for Blackstone. I sit in Blackstone’s European headquarters in London, but we have critical hubs and local teams in Dublin, Frankfurt, Milan, and Paris, allowing us to combine the global scale of Blackstone with local knowledge, local language, and a connectivity, that you only get from living alongside your clients.

3. You joined Blackstone at a time when the firm is looking to invest $200 billion in European credit over the next 10 years. How do you plan to deploy this across various sectors and countries?

It’s a good question, and the number can feel quite daunting at times. While European headline growth is challenging, both private credit and our target sectors have really positive tailwinds. We see significant opportunities to invest across the region.

From day one, what has struck me at Blackstone is the firm’s ability to identify key macroeconomic themes and back that conviction with capital, focusing on sectors and their growth prospects into the long-term. Not just in Europe, but in originating opportunities for our investors globally.

Defence spending is in vogue once more and increasing sizeably, while critical infrastructure is in need of upgrading and investment. Transport, power, utilities — but also future digital infrastructure. Data centres are getting a lot of attention, as is fibre connectivity. Meanwhile, we continue to expect very high consumer saving rates to unwind, alongside falling base rates.

We have identified infrastructure, asset-based lending, software and IT services, professional services, healthcare and life sciences, and digital consumer markets as key to our European credit strategy. These are sectors we focus on for deployment, and we are on track for a record year of deployment in European private credit. With that in mind, these aspirations do not feel as daunting as perhaps first thought.

4. As someone who has now worked across both, what opportunities are there for private credit and syndicated markets to co-exist?

Lots. Lots of opportunities. I saw this at Goldman and how its offerings in both markets increasingly lived alongside each other for quite a number of years. Sometimes they complement each other, sometimes they substitute each other, but both are here for the long-term and will continue to work together.

Their co-existence enables borrowers to optimise their funding structures, whether that be senior syndicated with junior private credit deals, providing different currencies, larger undrawn capex facilities, acquisition facilities, et cetera.

What is normally hidden in this question is not necessarily private credit versus syndicated markets but more the perception that private credit is taking away opportunities from traditional banks.

But LBOs remain a relatively small part of the broader corporate ecosystem — under our estimation $2trn of global private credit AUM represents just over 2% of $90trn in corporate debt. Meanwhile, many of the higher growth areas like asset-backed or infrastructure lending are more likely to see partnerships with banks than necessarily competition with them.

5. How important is retail investment in European private credit to Blackstone's overall strategy?

The secular trend to open up private assets to a broader range of investors — or, as some call it, democratising — is still in its early stages but it really has been accelerating. Blackstone was an early mover in this space, and now has $280bn in AUM through our private wealth channel.

Looking to Europe and its vast majority of privately-held companies, it is only logical that an individual investor looking to diversify would want access to private markets. Across asset classes, private markets can offer an attractive combination of higher returns, lower volatility, and diversification from public markets.

Blackstone’s European private credit strategy for individual investors is now just shy of €3bn in size and really gaining momentum. It provides a diversified, more reliable funding source for borrowers. And for investors, senior secured floating rate debt in European private credit remains a powerful proposition.

6. Consolidation among asset managers has happened lately amid longer holding periods and a tougher exit environment causing some strain for smaller players. What opportunities does private credit consolidation present to Blackstone?

I’ve worked in finance for 23 years. Over that time, there have been many predictions of bank and fund consolidations. What has actually materialised is a lot less than forecasted.

I don’t think you are going to see much consolidation via buying up other credit platforms — but it is harder for the smaller players to fundraise and retain talented staff and teams. We are seeing new and more — but under-scaled — players come in, and that is a space where you might see consolidation at the client level when it comes to who they prioritise as a lender. The larger funds also benefit from scale platforms across other asset classes which can provide a market advantage over others.

Blackstone’s strategy is focused on organic growth and in what we consider to be safer investments where we aim to give investors dependable returns through a cycle. We have built a track record allowing us to scale significantly and for both our LPs and borrowing clients to benefit from this scale. This has made us an attractive lender and with scale comes the ability to aggregate insights across portfolio companies and improve as an investor. It’s a positive cycle that over 40 years of experience do not go unrecognised.

7. Regulators have been concerned the current macro environment representing private credit's first real test. Is systemic risk growing within private credit?

What the argument about systemic risk fundamentally ignores is the fact that the investment strategy and funding models between banks and private credit are both completely different.

Private credit largely invests in senior secured loans at low LTV, with long-term liabilities matching long-term financings. That is fundamentally different from banks, where it is not unusual to see leverage of 10-15x, funded through deposits that can disappear at the push of a button as we saw with the regional banking crisis in the US.

That is a fundamental difference, and why private credit can be viewed as helping to strengthen the financial system. It’s a credible, sustainable and robust source of capital, and we do not see that changing going forward.

8. Are you at all concerned by the rise of defaults in the market of late?

Defaults actually remain quite low historically today — whether looking at the syndicated market or private credit, where in direct lending we’ve seen realised losses of only 12 basis points over the last 12 months. It is reasonable to expect defaults will rise in the market, but we are confident in how we have built our portfolio and believe that that our strategy will outperform for our investors.

While we generally expect average default rates in private markets to remain below public markets, there is going to be divergence between managers going forward as strategies deployed across the market differ pretty significantly.

It’s why at Blackstone we have a relentless focus on credit quality and choosing investments with reliable and predictable revenue and cash flows. We think that gives investors the best risk-adjusted returns through cycles. Across over 2,000 investing positions, our non-investment grade default rate is less than 50 basis points, which, over the last 12 months, is down to initial credit selection but also investing in a portfolio team that rigorously monitors exposures and anticipates issues ahead of time.

9. We’ve spoken a lot about your day job, but you also spend quite some time working for a charity. What does that mean to you?

For me, it’s one of the things that provides a bit of leveller versus your day job.

I have been involved with a charity called Street Child around 15 years, became a trustee in 2019, and sit on the finance committee and main board. I’ve participated in probably too many London to Amsterdam bike rides and the odd marathon to raise money for the charity.

Working in the toughest places in the world where there is conflict, civil war, and often desperate poverty, Street Child’s mission is simple: to see all children safe in school and learning. To date, Street Child has helped almost 1.5 million children in the countries and regions they operate in.

I am in awe of those who come up with creative programmes to maximise the impact of the money on the children and to the people on the ground. They are often operating in tremendously difficult environments — for example, Street Child has been active in Afghanistan for over 20 years. It truly is an amazing charity and deserves all the support it can get.

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