Private credit funds extended close to $560 billion in new loans to American businesses across the past three years, according to a Managed Funds Association report, with the activity tied to the creation of more than 6.5 million jobs.
According to MFA estimates reported by Reuters, the cumulative economic footprint of that private credit lending reached approximately $897 billion nationwide, with the biggest concentrations of that output landing in California, Illinois, and Texas.
To produce the report, MFA — a Washington, D.C.-based trade group for the global alternative asset management industry — drew on investment data from BlackRock $BLK's Preqin as well as federal datasets covering private credit and hedge funds.
The data reflects a broader shift in lending markets, where tighter regulatory requirements pushed conventional banks away from higher-risk loans, opening space that private credit firms moved to occupy, according to Reuters.
"Alternative asset managers provide a meaningful contribution to the U.S. economy and everyday Americans. Regulators should continue fostering a regulatory framework that encourages these benefits nationwide," MFA CEO Bryan Corbett said in a statement.
The report also examined institutional allocations to hedge funds. On the hedge fund side, the report tallied combined commitments of roughly $1.6 trillion from U.S. pensions, university endowments, and non-profit foundations. Pensions account for the largest share at $940 billion, followed by non-profit foundations at $510 billion, and New York, California, and Texas rank as the leading states by volume of those institutional commitments.