March 17 (Reuters) - New York Stock Exchange-parent Intercontinental Exchange said on Tuesday it has launched a product to bring greater transparency to the private credit market, an asset class beleaguered by heightened investor concerns.
Sentiment toward the private credit market has weakened amid worries about valuations and transparency, amplified by last year's bankruptcies of auto-parts supplier First Brands and car dealer Tricolor.
The product, ICE Private Credit Intelligence, will aim to let
firms securely share deal information with approved partners using a common data set, reducing the risk of exposing sensitive details. It will use ICE's technology to pull key terms from deal documents and distribute data more efficiently.
The platform will also add new tools over time, including performance analysis and pricing insights, to support portfolio management, risk assessment and improve market transparency.
"As private credit continues to scale, the next phase of the market's evolution will require stronger infrastructure and more standardized data that enables market participants to own and transact in private credit in a way that mirrors the public credit experience," said Eric Needleman, partner and head of Apollo Capital Solutions.
Apollo Global, a major player in the private credit market, is supporting the launch as an anchor partner, ICE said.
ICE plans to onboard other originators, asset managers and capital markets participants over the coming months, it added.
Several major U.S. banks have tightened lending standards, while private-credit funds owned by alternative asset managers have limited withdrawals as investors move to pull out billions of dollars.
Shares of such fund managers have declined as investors grow concerned about valuations of software firms they own or finance due to potential AI-driven disruption.
Turmoil in the private credit market has led Apollo to reportedly prepare plans to start shelling out monthly net asset values for its credit funds, a move that could pressure rivals to follow suit.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
