Donald Klip's annual perspective on the state of corporate private credit in Asia Pacific — where the market is, where it is going, and what it means for the operating companies, CFOs, and advisors who need to navigate it.
Published by
Donald Klip | Co-Founder, Global Mortgage Group | Head, GMG Capital Advisory
30 years of institutional finance. Former hedge fund founder. Senior roles at top global investment banks. GMG Capital Advisory arranges private credit and special situations finance of $10M–$100M for operating companies across Asia Pacific.
[email protected] | +65 9773 0273 | Singapore · Hong Kong | Asia-Pacific
Private credit in Asia Pacific has crossed from emerging market status to structural market reality in the space of five years. When I began positioning GMG Capital Advisory in this space, private credit was a concept that many Asia Pacific CFOs and business owners had heard of but never accessed. Today, it is a financing solution that an increasing share of the region's most sophisticated corporate borrowers are using as their first call rather than their last resort.
Private credit in Asia Pacific is not a cycle. It is a structural shift in how mid-market corporate capital is allocated. The businesses and advisors who understand this early will have a significant advantage over those who do not.
Where the Market Stands
Asia Pacific private credit assets under management exceeded $150 billion in 2024, having more than doubled over five years. The growth has been driven by both supply and demand dynamics that are reinforcing each other.
On the supply side, institutional investors: pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and family offices, have dramatically increased their allocations to private credit as a yield-enhancement and portfolio diversification strategy. In a world where public fixed income yields have been persistently low and equity volatility persistently high, private credit's combination of predictable income, floating rate protection, and attractive risk-adjusted returns has been compelling.
On the demand side, the systematic withdrawal of bank credit from the mid-market has created a capital gap that private credit is uniquely positioned to fill. The regulatory forces driving bank credit tightening are not temporary. They are the new baseline. The demand for private credit from Asia Pacific mid-market operating companies will continue to grow.
The Most Important Trends
Sector specialisation is deepening
The early phase of Asia Pacific private credit was largely generalist, lenders would finance anything creditworthy regardless of sector. The market is now maturing into sector-specific specialisation. Data centre and digital infrastructure finance has emerged as one of the most active and best-capitalised segments. Energy transition finance: renewables, biofuels, SAF, storage, is attracting dedicated capital pools. Healthcare, logistics, and agribusiness are developing their own specialist lender communities. This specialisation is good for borrowers: sector-specialist lenders bring deeper understanding, faster credit decisions, and more appropriate structures for industry-specific collateral.
AI infrastructure is creating a new asset class
The AI infrastructure buildout across Asia Pacific is generating capital requirements that have no precedent in the region's credit history. Data centre capacity requirements from hyperscalers, the power infrastructure needed to support AI compute, and the supply chain investments required to build and maintain GPU clusters are all creating financing needs that conventional bank credit frameworks are not equipped to meet. Private credit lenders who understand the hyperscaler contract dynamics, the power procurement landscape, and the GPU market will be among the most active and most important capital providers in the region over the next five years.
Cross-border transactions are growing
Asia Pacific's operating company economy is becoming more cross-border, not less. Supply chains, customer bases, ownership structures, and investment horizons all increasingly span multiple jurisdictions. The financing solutions needed by these businesses must match their geographic footprint. Private credit lenders with genuine multi-jurisdiction capability, like GMG Capital Advisory with our 23+ jurisdiction platform, are better positioned than those serving only single markets.
Family offices are becoming direct lenders
Singapore and Hong Kong host an increasingly large and sophisticated family office community. These family offices are progressively moving from investing in private credit funds to making direct private credit investments themselves, providing capital directly to operating companies at deal sizes from $5M to $50M. This development is expanding the supply of private credit capital in the region.
The advisor community is catching up
Private bankers, EAMs, and independent advisors are increasingly including private credit in the toolkit of solutions they bring to HNWI business owner clients. The most sophisticated advisors
are now proactively raising private credit as a solution for clients with corporate finance problems. The trend will accelerate as the track record of successful private credit transactions in the region continues to build.
What It Means for Operating Companies and CFOs
The single most important implication of the private credit market's development in Asia Pacific is this: the financing options available to mid-market operating companies are significantly broader than they were five years ago. The capital gap that banks have created is being filled by a diverse, growing, and increasingly sophisticated private credit market.
CFOs and business owners who understand this, who have mapped the private credit landscape, built relationships with specialist advisors, and positioned their businesses to access non-bank capital when needed, will have a significant financing advantage over those who have not.
GMG Capital Advisory's Commitment
I started GMG Capital Advisory because I saw the mid-market financing gap in Asia Pacific and believed that institutional-grade underwriting, genuine regional coverage, and a focus on the $10M–$100M segment could build something genuinely valuable for operating companies in the region.
The 41 articles in The Debt Desk series represent our commitment to making the private credit market transparent and accessible for the business owners, CFOs, and advisors who need to navigate it. We publish this content because an informed market is a better market, for borrowers, for lenders, and for the businesses and advisors who work in it.
If you have a corporate financing requirement that your bank cannot meet, contact us. That is what we are here for.
About GMG Capital Advisory
Donald Klip | Co-Founder, Global Mortgage Group | Head, GMG Capital Advisory
Donald Klip has 30 years of institutional finance experience spanning hedge fund management and senior roles at the world’s top global investment banks. GMG Capital Advisory specialises in arranging and structuring corporate debt financing of $10M–$100M for operating companies, asset owners, and project sponsors where conventional bank lending is unavailable, insufficient, or too slow. We operate across 23+ jurisdictions in Asia Pacific.
www.gmg.asia | [email protected] | +65 9773 0273 | Singapore · Hong Kong
The Debt Desk
Corporate private credit intelligence for Asia Pacific’s $10M–$100M middle market. Published by GMG Capital Advisory. Part of the Private Credit Asia content series.
www.gmg.asia | Read all 41 articles in the series
