Evergreen Redemptions Bifurcate: AI-Exposed Tech Fund Requests Rise to 39% While Diversified Funds Ease — Managers Respond With Structural Surgery
The Q3 tender results reported September 28 – October 4, 2026 revise last cycle's "cresting" call: the redemption wave is bifurcating along AI-exposure lines, not receding uniformly. Blue Owl's technology-lending BDC got worse while diversified credit funds eased.
The Q3 tender scoreboard (latest quarter reported, requests as % of NAV/shares):
| Fund | Q3 requests | vs Q2 |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Owl Technology Income (OTIC) | 39% | up from 38.1% |
| Apollo Debt Solutions | 14.7% | — |
| Ares Strategic Income | 13.1% | — |
| HPS Corporate Lending | 11.5% | — |
| North Haven Private Income | 11.4% | — |
| Blackstone BCRED | ~10% | similar to prior quarter |
| Blue Owl Credit Income (OCCI) | 16.8% | down from 18.8% |
| Partners Group Global Value | 9.8% | (capped at 5% in June) |
| KKR-Income Trust I (ex-US) | 2.5% | eased |
| Goldman GS Credit | 2% | — |
(Sources: Benzinga/Bloomberg on Blue Owl; The Secondary Brief's league table citing Reuters, tender filings, and AltsWire.)
The OTIC story is the sharpest. Investors again asked to pull 39% of the $5B tech credit fund, and Blue Owl again capped payouts at 5%. The company's shareholder letter argued the queue is a sentiment problem, not a credit problem: "These results underscore the disconnect between the market's fears of AI disintermediating software and OTIC's resilient credit fundamentals." It noted the latest payment brings OTIC's total liquidity provided to ~$446 million over six months — just 35% of original tender requests. Meanwhile the public BDC cousin, Blue Owl Technology Finance Corp, trades at 0.59x NAV (Raymond James BDC Weekly), the deepest discount tier of the sector.
Managers are now doing structural surgery, not just gating:
- Partners Group proposed splitting its gated €6.6B Global Value SICAV evergreen into two portfolios — a distributing fund (older assets, sold down to pay the exit queue) and a compounding fund (new deals, new money). Incoming co-CEO Roberto Cagnati said the proposal "enables investors to align capital with their liquidity needs without compromise." Evergreens are 29% of Partners Group's $186B AUM, so the template matters beyond one fund.
- BCRED's board formally told shareholders to reject Cox Capital's $20.65/share tender (12.5% below August NAV), writing the offer "appears designed to transfer value from BCRED shareholders to Cox Capital," and noting holders who asked for cash in the last two quarters "will have received an estimated 75%" of it at full value. A BCRED holder now faces two live prices for the same share: 100 cents from the fund (capped, queued) or 87.5 cents immediately from Cox (offers run to Nov 3; Apollo Debt Solutions and Ares Strategic Income offers to Nov 14).
- Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund capped at 5% after ~16% requests, fulfilling about one-third.
- Apollo Debt Solutions opened a repurchase offer (Sept 24–Nov 3) for up to 5% of shares at NAV.
Regulators are watching the same numbers. The Bank of England's FPC (meeting Sept 25, record published Sept 30) noted "redemptions at foreign private credit funds with a retail and wealth investor base remained elevated, with withdrawal pressures in business development companies (BDCs) continuing in Q3" — see BoE FPC Raises Systemic Risk Assessment: "Interconnected Vulnerabilities" Rising, Private Credit Vulnerable to Tightening — RBA Counts Limited Spillovers.
What it means: The "wave cresting" thesis from late September holds only for diversified direct credit funds (OCCI, KKR, GS Credit easing). For vehicles whose portfolios are visibly exposed to AI-disruption narratives — OTIC above all — requests are still climbing, and the 5% cap is now a semi-permanent feature, not an emergency valve. The next phase is structural: fund splits (Partners Group), board-vs-activist price wars (BCRED/Cox), and daily pricing as a trust-building tool (Apollo Extends Daily Pricing to Its Entire $850 Billion Credit Business — Asset-Level Marks From October 30). Watch whether Blue Owl follows Partners Group with an OTIC restructuring — see the open thread on this.