Goldman Private Credit Withdrawals Drop Again as $9.2 Billion BDC Stays Below Cap

Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp. received repurchase requests covering just 2% of outstanding shares in the third quarter, down from 3.24% in the second quarter and 4.99% in the first, distinguishing the non-traded business development company from larger peers that have faced withdrawal requests well above their quarterly liquidity limits.

The fund had a $9.2 billion net asset value as of June 30 and generated a year-to-date total return of about 4.5% through Aug. 31. Goldman also reported roughly $400 million of gross subscriptions during the quarter, meaning new capital exceeded estimated repurchase requests.

The figures offer an important counterpoint to the redemption pressure affecting parts of the non-traded private credit market, where evergreen vehicles are being tested by investors seeking liquidity from portfolios primarily composed of illiquid corporate loans.

Redemption requests fall for third consecutive quarter

Goldman Sachs Private Credit Corp.’s repurchase requests have declined steadily during 2026.

Investors tendered 4.99% of outstanding shares in the first quarter, just below the fund’s customary 5% quarterly repurchase limit. Requests dropped to 3.24% in the second quarter before falling to approximately 2% in the third.

The fund therefore avoided having to prorate repurchases in all three periods.

Goldman’s structure generally contemplates quarterly offers to repurchase up to 5% of outstanding shares, although the board can amend, suspend or terminate the program. Shares sold within 12 months of issuance can also be subject to a 2% early repurchase deduction under specified circumstances, according to the fund’s SEC-filed repurchase terms.

The second-quarter tender demonstrates how the mechanism operates when requests remain below the limit. Investors tendered about 12.08 million shares, and Goldman accepted 100% of them. The fund ultimately paid approximately $295.9 million after applicable early-repurchase deductions.

Goldman diverges sharply from larger peers

Goldman’s experience contrasts with several major non-traded private credit vehicles.

Blackstone’s BCRED received roughly $4.3 billion of third-quarter redemption requests, equivalent to about 10% of outstanding shares, forcing the vehicle to limit repurchases to its standard 5% quarterly threshold. PE NEWSWIRE previously examined the resulting liquidity pressure in its coverage of Blackstone’s $77 billion BCRED redemption requests.

Morgan Stanley has experienced a similar pattern. Investors in its nearly $7 billion North Haven Private Income Fund requested redemptions covering 11.4% of outstanding shares in the third quarter, leading the vehicle to impose its 5% limit for a third consecutive quarter.

PE NEWSWIRE’s analysis of Morgan Stanley’s repeated private credit withdrawal caps found that nearly two-thirds of its third-quarter requests came from investors whose earlier withdrawal requests had already been limited. PE NEWSWIRE

Goldman’s 2% request rate therefore represents more than a sequential improvement. It indicates materially different investor liquidity behavior among some of the largest wealth-oriented private credit vehicles.

Reuters reported that comparable withdrawal requests disclosed by other large managers ranged from roughly 10% to more than 16% during the period.

Inflows provide another point of differentiation

Goldman’s approximately $400 million of third-quarter gross subscriptions are also significant.

The inflows were equivalent to about 4.4% of the fund’s June 30 NAV and roughly 2.1 times estimated repurchase requests, according to the fund’s disclosures cited in market reports.

That means the vehicle was attracting new money at the same time existing shareholders were offered liquidity.

The distinction matters for perpetual private credit funds. A vehicle experiencing persistent net outflows may eventually need to maintain larger liquidity reserves, use borrowings, slow new loan commitments or dispose of assets to fund repurchases. Consistent subscriptions can reduce those pressures.

Investor composition may partly explain Goldman’s experience. Reuters reported that the fund’s shareholder base is concentrated among Goldman Sachs private wealth clients, a group the manager views as having longer investment horizons and greater tolerance for illiquidity.

That explanation should not be treated as the only driver, however. Portfolio performance, credit quality, distribution rates and investor expectations can all affect repurchase behavior.

Software credit concerns begin to moderate

The decline in withdrawal requests arrives as Goldman sees some stabilization in one of private credit’s most closely watched sectors.

Software lending became a source of concern earlier in 2026 as investors considered whether rapid advances in artificial intelligence could disrupt established software business models and weaken the credit profiles of highly leveraged borrowers.

Goldman told investors that selected software equities have recovered and that lender behavior has shifted from broad risk aversion toward greater differentiation among borrowers. Highly leveraged middle-market software-as-a-service companies nevertheless continue to face constrained access to financing, the manager said.

That distinction is important for BDC investors because software represents a substantial component of many direct-lending portfolios.

The lending environment itself has also become more favorable to creditors. Goldman said spreads on new loans were approximately 25 basis points wider than at the end of 2025, while documentation increasingly included tighter covenants, stronger call protection and broader lender remedies.

Wider spreads can improve prospective returns, while stronger documentation can provide lenders with greater protection if borrowers encounter financial stress.

A test of the evergreen private credit model

Non-traded BDCs have become an important route for wealth investors seeking exposure to private credit without committing to traditional closed-end institutional funds.

Their liquidity arrangements are deliberately different from mutual funds. Investors receive periodic opportunities to tender shares, but managers generally limit the amount repurchased because the underlying corporate loans cannot necessarily be sold quickly without affecting value.

Goldman’s experience shows that those limits do not inevitably lead to redemption queues.

The contrast across managers instead suggests that investor behavior can vary considerably depending on distribution channels, shareholder composition, fund performance and portfolio characteristics.

The fund’s Q3 result is also consistent with signs that redemption pressure may be easing from earlier peaks across parts of the industry, although requests at several major vehicles remain above their quarterly limits.

For institutional and wealth investors assessing perpetual private credit funds, that divergence makes net flows, repurchase fulfillment and the persistence of redemption backlogs increasingly useful alongside conventional measures such as yield, NAV performance and credit losses.

Goldman’s falling request rate — from nearly 5% to 2% in two quarters — shows one large private credit vehicle moving in the opposite direction from the industry’s most visible liquidity pressure points.

The PitchBook report on Goldman’s Q3 private credit redemptions provides the underlying quarterly figures.