Lending by private credit firms is rising sharply in global markets, with investments reaching $18bn (£13.5bn) in 2025.
A new report from the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA) found fund managers are playing a growing role in closing financing gaps across developing economies, raising $54bn for GPCA markets-focused private credit funds since 2021. GPCA members manage more than $2tn across Asia, Latin America, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.
Capital deployed in the first three quarters of 2025 hit $18bn, surpassing the previous record of $16.2bn set in 2022 and significantly ahead of the $13.9bn invested in 2024.
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“Since 2022, we have gone from base rates at the zero bound – with public markets priced to perfection from the standpoint of borrowers – to now an increase in base rates, volatility and dislocation in the public debt markets,” said Gustavo Ferraro, partner and head of capital solutions at Gramercy Funds. “This means an expanded universe for private lenders.”
Financial services, including fintech, accounted for 24 per cent of GPCA market deal value since 2021, with Latin America and Asia driving most disclosed deal activity. The regions represented 45 per cent and 38 per cent respectively of capital deployed.
The report also showed global general partners becoming increasingly active in Asia. Local investors within emerging markets are likewise boosting allocations to private credit, particularly in Latin America, India and the Middle East
“We see fintech platforms across emerging markets increasingly financing their growth with debt,” said Ryan Millikan of Kirkoswald Capital Management. “The size threshold for global investment banks is typically $100m to $200m, leaving smaller deals less contested. For asset-backed lending to fintechs and non-bank financial services, we see Latin America as the most fertile ground, with rising interest in emerging Europe and the Middle East.”.
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GPCA argued that emerging markets have stronger fundamentals than the US, with lower leverage, better interest coverage, shorter duration and higher gross yields. Deals also tend to come with tighter protections, with just 2 per cent classified as covenant-lite compared with 25 per cent in the US middle market and 90 per cent in broadly syndicated loans.
Large recent transactions include Saudi-founded buy now, pay later firm Tamara, which secured $1.4bn in July 2025 in an asset-backed deal from alternative manager Apollo alongside global banks.
In infrastructure and real assets, credit funds have been partnering with banks to support major projects, such as the $546m debt package for Colombia’s Conexión Norte, backed by Allianz and BlackRock.
Despite rapid growth, GPCA markets still account for only four per cent of global private credit fundraising since 2008, the report added.
