Special report | Private lending
The debt barons who are taking on the banks
Private-credit funds are courting borrowers of all sorts. Regulators are sceptical
|10 min read
No dead institution looms larger over the financial system than Drexel Burnham Lambert. The investment bank, which collapsed in 1990, is to today’s Wall Street what PayPal was to present-day Silicon Valley: an incubator for young hot shots who went on to shape an industry. Whereas those from the payments firm would start SpaceX, LinkedIn and YouTube, Drexel alumni founded Apollo, Ares and Cerberus, and firms that later became the credit divisions of Bain Capital and Blackstone.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “The private-credit revolution”
From the May 31st 2025 edition
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