Barclays says half of its private credit deals in India are worth over $100 mn

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Private credit funding, in which lenders and borrowers directly negotiate financing without engaging an intermediary, is increasing in size and complexity, as companies look to diversify their source of funding, Pramod Kumar, chief executive officer and head of investment banking - India at Barclays Plc. Barclays, which has been quite active in the private credit space over the past few years, is looking at big-ticket transactions.

The UK-based bank recently closed a funding deal for Hinduja Group’s acquisition of the bankrupt Reliance Capital. “In the private credit space, we do see that the share of larger deals, that is, $100 million-plus is now close to 50%. It is evident that there is an increasing trend of larger and complex transactions.

And as you see more competition coming in smaller transactions, we obviously graduate ourselves to focus more on larger transactions, handle more complexity, and therefore make better returns for us," he said. Kumar said that various financing opportunities are emerging, as stock markets reel under selling pressure and public listing takes a hit. He said that 2025 will see a more balanced mix of equity and a combination of debt - that could be private credit, debt capital markets, or market borrowings - as raising equity is not certain and doesn’t come cheap as was the case in 2024.

Valuations have cracked and fallen a fair bit, he said. “A mix of increased sponsor activity, delayed exits because of relatively weaker IPO markets, and third being a robust domestic M&A activity by some of the large industrial houses who feel comfortable taking on some incremental risks to consolidate the business or get into newer segments. So, those are the three