BlackRock Calmly Buys $25B in Cockroach-Infested Corporate Loans
KEY POINTS
- ā¢BlackRock acquired HPS in late 2024, significantly expanding its private credit business.
- ā¢In 2025, they invested $25 billion in private markets, despite rising defaults to 5.7%.
- ā¢CFO Martin Small emphasized lending only to companies averaging $250 million annual earnings to manage risk.
In a dazzling show of confidence that could make even pest controllers question their life choices, BlackRock's CEO Larry Fink and CFO Martin Small report zero cockroach sightings in their booming $145 billion private credit portfolio. This came right after the firm gobbled up HPS at the end of 2024, diving headfirst into private lending where defaults amusingly jumped from 5.2% to 5.7% in just a month. Despite this, and the gut-wrenching bankruptcies of First Brands and Tricolor auto lenders (definitely not minor players), small companies under $50 million annual earnings remain theroachiest critters. But fear not: BlackRock only lends to companies averaging a healthy $250 million yearly income, because, apparently, the ultra-wealthyās money is safer when sprinkled over giant fish rather than guppies having financial meltdowns.
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BlackRock proudly swims in a pool of $25 billion loans as defaults riseābecause nothing screams 'stable' like juggling cockroaches on Wall Street.
BlackRock calls 5.7% default rates 'expected catch-up' while casually throwing billions at companies making $250 million yearly. Business as usual?
When your $14 trillion asset manager treats rising defaults like a minor hiccup, you know the private credit party is just getting wild.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 1/15/2026 | Author: Bradley Saacks
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