Big Lenders’ Risky Loans Are Rattling Wall Street

From the article: Blue Owl Capital, a giant Wall Street lender, used to do just about anything for attention. It hosted investment advisers at five-star resorts, advertised on digital billboards, slapped its logo on professional tennis players and hosted a pickleball tournament in Central Park. But for the past few weeks, Blue Owl has been the talk of Wall Street for an altogether different reason. It has been trying to convince investors that its $300 billion portfolio of investments and loans is actually worth what Blue Owl says. Despite a blitz of conference calls, media interviews and news releases, Blue Owl appears not to have resolved the miasma surrounding the firm. Rather, its efforts to calm many investor jitters may have contributed to worries that Wall Street is on the precipice of a broad, new credit crisis. On Tuesday, Blue Owl stock was down as much as 9 percent, nearing its lowest point as a public company. The share prices of other large lenders also fell. The uncertainty centers on whether Blue Owl and other colossal “private credit” lenders have been far too optimistic in their assessments of multiyear, privately traded loans tied to risky companies and industries that may now be threatened by advancements in artificial intelligence. If so, these lenders may soon face the unpleasant reality of having to mark down the value of loans to these vulnerable companies or, worse, sell the loans under duress.