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Gifting middle market to the masses

There are certain holiday classics that could not be made today. For every Arnold Schwarzenegger trying to buy a Turbo Man, there is Amazon. For every jittery bank customer, there is online banking — and for every child left behind at home or an airport there are smartphones to keep parents connected.

But there is a pull that such classics have that make us want to revisit these gone, but simpler times every year. And as each month goes by, and private credit matures more and more as an asset class, nostalgia may be the feeling we wake up to when everyone clocks off for the year.

What we assumed was once an illiquid class is no longer. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for private credit loans are now live with BondBloxx and Virtus Investment Partners launching the first of such products this week. Both will invest in private credit CLOs and the BondBloxx product has so far invested in structures managed by Golub, Antares, Carlyle and Ares among others.