Blue Owl’s listed BDC Blue Owl Capital Corporation II (OBDC II) has upended expectations for honoring how investors can withdraw their capital.
Headlines across the industry are suggesting that the fund is gating redemptions — essentially not paying out investors who have asked for their money back.
But everything publicly stated by the firm, from executives on its earnings call, SEC filings, and even a statement provided to 9fin, suggests that capital is being returned to investors at a pace beyond that of a typical BDC.
Let’s break it down. On 18 February, Blue Owl sold $1.4bn worth of assets out of three BDCs to help manage liquidity for OBDC II. The buyers included three pension funds and Blue Owl’s own insurer, Kuvare, according to Bloomberg.
The move comes after Blue Owl attempted to merge OBDC and OBDC II last year, but terminated the deal in November and temporarily halted redemptions in the second fund, with plans to resume them this quarter.
OBDC II said this week that it would still no longer be using the typical quarterly tender offer route, but would now be repaying investors through special cash distributions this quarter using proceeds of...
