👟 Walk the Talk: Asia’s Credit Waves
Acrostics Asia has captured the shifts in Asia’s high-yield and private credit markets ahead of time.
After nearly four years of drought caused by China’s property implosion and the US rate hikes, Asia’s bond tide has returned as issuers are wading back to a more receptive offshore market.
While the high-yield “musical chairs” usually revolved around banks and bondholders swapping seats with each other, the game has benefitted from the entry of a third player: private credit funds.
However, Acrostics Asia flagged in May 2025 that the rapid growth of private credit doesn’t remove its structural shortcomings: the lower quality of some borrowers and patchy jurisdictions across the region.
Key Timeline
Acrostics Asia wrote that private credit funds were mushrooming in Asia as they were lured by opportunities ranging from scooping up distressed assets in Hong Kong to getting juicy returns from Indian borrowers.
However, Acrostics Asia noted that the ability of the private credit firms to enforce their loans would eventually prove to be the key differentiator.
Bond sales by issuers such as India’s Vedanta Resources and Australia’s Nickel Industries drew strong demand from investors who were keen for more supply.
Asia’s high-yield market is a game of musical chairs where lenders pass a credit to each other and hope that the music doesn’t stop prematurely.
Acrostics Asia broke the news that Ares Management and Tor Investment Management secured a rare court victory in Indonesia against local businessman David Salim.
The Indonesian court granted the petition of a company controlled by the private credit lenders to replace the directors and commissioners of shopping mall operator Supermal Karawaci.
Acrostics Asia wrote that legal uncertainty is a key factor that has been holding back the growth of private credit in Southeast Asia.
Creditors typically pick Singapore as the venue for dispute resolution or schemes of arrangement, but lenders often hit the same wall if the key assets are in jurisdictions that are seen to favour the borrowers.
Despite two private credit lenders’ court victory against David Salim, the Indonesian businessman and his associates have put up a resistance against the ruling.
While Asia’s private credit market has shown some fissures, it’s unlikely to run out of players who bet that they can exit in time and make money.
Acrostics Asia wrote that Asia’s private credit story is not just about loan allocations anymore, as managers are adjusting their pitch to highlight their structuring prowess and local relationships.
But the party is still raging in India, where private credit investments jumped 53% to USD 9 billion in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier.
Full Acrostics Asia Coverage
📒 Quick Take: Asia’s Mushrooming Private Credit (9 May 2025)
📒 Quick Take: Asia’s Bond Tide (2 October 2025)
📚 Acrostics Anatomy: Indonesian Mall Fight (17 October - 29 November 2025)
📒 Quick Take: Asia Private Credit’s Reality Check (29 November 2025)
📒 Quick Take: Asian Credit’s Shifting Currents (9 December 2025)