BlackRock Inc. announced on March 6, 2026, that it has restricted withdrawals from its $26 billion HPS Corporate Lending Fund (HLEND) after redemption requests exceeded the fund’s established quarterly limits. The asset manager informed shareholders that it would fulfill approximately 54% of the repurchase requests for the first quarter of 2026, effectively capping total redemptions at 5% of the fund’s outstanding shares.
The decision followed a surge in exit requests, with shareholders seeking to redeem approximately 9.3% of the fund's total shares. Under the fund’s structural guidelines as a non-traded business development company (BDC), BlackRock maintains the right to limit quarterly repurchases to preserve liquidity and protect the interests of long-term investors. This marks a significant activation of liquidity gates for the HPS Corporate Lending Fund, which BlackRock integrated following its acquisition of HPS Investment Partners.
The move comes amid a period of heightened market volatility and a downward trend in major indices. On the morning of March 6, equity markets opened lower across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.67% at the open to 47,954.8, while the S&P 500 declined 0.90% to 6,830.7. The Nasdaq Composite saw a sharper opening drop of 1.44% to 22,749.0, and the Russell 2000 fell 1.20% to 2,585.6. Market anxiety was further reflected in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), which rose 16.8% at the open to reach 21.8. In the fixed-income market, the 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.21%, while the 2-year yield was 3.47%, maintaining a spread of 0.71%.
In an official statement to investors, BlackRock noted that the fund remains focused on its core strategy of providing senior secured loans to mid-sized and large corporate borrowers. The company emphasized that the redemption cap is a standard feature of the fund's design, intended to manage the inherent mismatch between the liquidity expectations of some investors and the long-term, illiquid nature of private credit assets. The HPS Corporate Lending Fund primarily invests in privately originated, floating-rate senior secured loans, a sector that has seen rapid growth as traditional bank lending has tightened.
As of the most recent reporting period, the fund’s portfolio was valued at approximately $26 billion. BlackRock confirmed that the remaining 4.3% of shares requested for redemption but not fulfilled this quarter will not be automatically carried over to the next period. Shareholders who still wish to exit their positions must re-submit their requests during the next quarterly window. The company stated that the fund continues to hold a diversified portfolio of loans and that the decision to enforce the 5% cap is a proactive measure to ensure the stability of the fund’s net asset value.