(Aug 26): Singapore-based insurer Great Eastern Holdings Ltd is backing Granite Asia’s inaugural private credit fund, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest example of an insurance company putting money into private credit. 

Great Eastern has invested around US$100 million (RM403 million) in the fund, said the people who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.

Granite Asia, an asset manager based in Singapore, also raised close to S$70 million (US$55 million or RM222 million) from DBS Group Holdings Ltd’s private banking clients, according to a statement from the bank. The money manager surpassed a US$500 million target for its Pan-Asia private credit strategy with new commitments from an insurer, DBS Private Bank, and other institutional investors, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Great Eastern and Granite Asia didn’t respond to requests for comments.

Under pressure to generate higher profits, global life insurance companies are among the biggest investors in private credit, but higher defaults are causing some to become more selective about where they put their money. Several of the world’s biggest alternative asset managers were also forced to limit investor withdrawals from funds earlier this year after concerns grew about outsized exposures to software firms threatened by artificial intelligence.

Still, private credit is growing in the Asia-Pacific and has avoided much of the turmoil elsewhere given fund structures in the region tend to be closed-ended and they have less exposure to software. 

Economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and elevated interest rates, however, are set to slow growth in private credit fundraising in the Asia-Pacific as investors become more wary of illiquid assets, Moody’s Ratings said in a report last month.

Last year, Granite Asia secured more than US$350 million in anchor commitments for the fund’s first close.  

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee