ASIA-PACIFIC-WIDE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Anand Shah, Suharsh Sinha, Ishan Handa and Saloni Thakkar, AZB & Partners
Challenges in enforcement of lender rights Despite significant progress, private credit lenders in India continue to face challenges in the enforcement of their rights. Key issues include the following. • Judicial delays: the Indian legal system is char - acterised by significant delays in the resolution of commercial disputes, including enforcement of security interests and recovery proceedings. While the IBC has improved timelines for insolvency resolution, practical challenges persist, particularly in complex cases involving multiple stakeholders. • Priority of claims: the treatment of minority lenders vis-à-vis majority creditors remains a contentious issue, with frequent litigation over the priority of claims in insolvency proceedings. • Enforcement of security: while the SARFAESI Act and other statutes provide mechanisms for the enforcement of security interests, practical chal - lenges such as resistance from borrowers, and administrative bottlenecks can impede timely recovery. Active private credit lenders in India With the growth of the private credit market in India, global and domestic funds offering private and struc - tured credit investments has expanded. Key inves - tors include Deutsche Bank, Varde, Oaktree Capital, Farallon, Cerberus, Davidson Kempner, Elham Credit, Barclays, Ares, Edelweiss Alternatives, Synergy Capi - tal, 360 One, OMERS, SC Lowy, BlackRock, KKR and Kotak Alternate Assets Funds. Australia: a mature private credit market Australia’s private credit market has experienced transformative growth over the past decade with assets under management reaching approximately AUD224 billion as of 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate/CAGR of approximately 20%. Reports suggest that this expansion has been driven by structural shifts in the lending market, particularly the implementation of Basel III capital requirements following the global financial crisis, which altered banks’ risk appetites and capital allocation strategies. It is reported that major Australian banks have halved their commercial real estate lending exposure from 10% to 5.5% of total assets since 2009, whilst their
share of total commercial real estate lending by deposit-taking institutions has declined from 87% to 75%. Private credit now accounts for approximately USD50 billion of commercial real estate loans, reflect - ing 16% of total commercial real estate lending, with the market broadly divided into corporate and busi - ness-related lending (approximately AUD132 billion, representing 14% of that market segment) and com - mercial real estate lending (approximately AUD92 bil - lion, accounting for 18% of that segment). Market consolidation has emerged as a notable trend, with domestic multi-asset fund managers increasing their share from 20% to 27% of assets under manage - ment between 2024 and 2025, reflecting both investor and regulatory demands for improved transparency and governance, with larger platforms better posi - tioned to meet these expectations. However, it is also observed that the Australian market faces challenges and regulatory scrutiny, particularly concerning the concentration of lending in higher- risk real estate construction and development financ - ing – a segment that has historically represented the majority of credit losses in economic downturns and has effectively transferred substantial property devel - opment risk from the prudentially regulated banking sector to the less transparent non-bank sector. The Australian Securities and Investments Commis - sion has raised concerns regarding conflicts of interest, valuation practices, fee structures, liquidity manage - ment, and transparency. While institutional investors and large superannuation funds typically engage with funds offering transparent arrangements, segments targeting wholesale “sophisticated” and retail inves - tors through platforms demonstrate practices that compare unfavourably against international stand - ards. These include opaque fee and interest margin arrangements where managers may retain 50-100% of upfront and borrower-paid fees, non-independent valuations linked to management fee calculations, and inadequate disclosure of portfolio composition, impaired assets, and related-party transactions. Looking ahead, the market is expected to benefit from falling interest rates and stabilising asset values, increased transaction activity, growing international
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