Disruption is no longer theoretical. Artificial intelligence is reshaping business models, liquidity remains uneven, and capital is becoming more selective. Across credit markets, activity remains bifurcated, with primary bond markets facing challenges on different fronts. As the leveraged finance market resets, participants must separate structural change from cyclical noise.   

• How are geopolitical dynamics and the conflict in the Middle East reshaping credit markets and risk appetite? 
• Which sectors are emerging as resilient opportunities in 2026? 
• How is AI-driven disruption reshaping risk assessment in private credit portfolios?  
• As China's real estate downturn recedes as the dominant distressed theme, where will the next wave of credit opportunities emerge in China?

The private credit market is forecasted to reach $3 trillion globally by 2028 and has become a core component of capital markets. It is now facing its first meaningful stress test with higher rates, tighter liquidity, redemption pressure, and increased scrutiny around transparency. The rapid buildout of AI infrastructure, particularly data centres, is driving significant capital demand, and increasing reliance on private capital for funding. This discussion examines where the model holds and the next wave of opportunities.  

• How is the market transitioning amid higher rates, tighter liquidity, and macro uncertainty? 
• Where are early signs of stress emerging across private credit portfolios? 
• How has underwriting discipline evolved in response to market volatility? 
• How is the buildout of AI infrastructure and data centres being financed? 
• As India and Australia become more challenging, where will private credit funds invest in Asia?

The maturity wall is no longer a future risk; it is unfolding in real time. While high-quality borrowers land smoothly, stressed and high-yield issuers face a refinancing squeeze. Consensual outs-of-court workouts, bespoke liability management exercises, and highly structured "rescue capital" have become the primary lines of defence. This panel will discuss how the market is engineering liquidity, navigating intercreditor conflicts, and rewriting the restructuring playbook in real-time. 

• Where are we in the refinancing cycle and how much pain is still ahead? 
• Does maturity wall come into play for borrowers and in what form?  
• How are out-of-court workouts and pre-insolvency mediations changing the restructuring playbook?  
• What is the corporate restructuring outlook for 2027?

As capital structures become increasingly complex, alignment among creditors is becoming harder to achieve. Diverging mandates, competing investment strategies, and the growing use of sophisticated liability management tools are creating new sources of tension in distressed situations. As stakeholders seek to protect their positions and maximise recoveries, disputes over value allocation, governance rights, and control can emerge. This panel focuses on how control is asserted, how conflicts are resolved, and what determines outcomes when stakeholders collide. 

• How have dynamics between different creditor groups evolved in recent years? 
• How are liability management tools used for lenders to regain control?  
• How do you work with restructuring negotiations, intercreditor agreements, and control rights?  
• How well does current intercreditor frameworks work in more complex capital structures?

• How is Australia's credit market evolving in a more selective financing environment? 
• Where are lenders tightening, and where are they still flexing to get deals done? 
• What is driving the Australia’s data centre investment deal flow and where are the key financing gaps? 
• Why are Australian borrowers increasingly accessing offshore markets like the Nordics? 
• Where are the key challenges and opportunities in mining restructurings?

The market is still navigating a macro environment defined by a valuation gap and compressed traditional exit runways. Businesses built on pre ChatGPT assumptions may face accelerated obsolescence, while AI-enabled companies require different underwriting approaches given their scalability, capital intensity, and often uncertain monetisation timelines. Valuing a business today is complex and requires pricing in structural technological disruptions and navigating a rapidly maturing liquidity ecosystem.   

• What methodologies are being employed to accurately value portfolios? 
• What are some of the acute challenges in underwriting for companies that may be at risk against AI? 
• Are managers turning to alternative sources of liquidity like secondaries and NAV financing?
• Will today’s valuation and exit landscape create future distressed opportunities?

Investors are reassessing how to allocate across the credit spectrum, balancing yield, liquidity, and downside protection while navigating uneven recovery across sectors and regions. Capital is increasingly flowing toward strategies that offer structural protection, pricing power, and flexibility. This panel explores how institutional investors are developing their credit portfolio, where they are finding conviction, and how allocation decisions are shifting in response to changing market dynamics. 

• Where are you finding investment conviction today: scale, specialisation, or niche strategies? 
• What’s driving LP interest in evergreen, semi‑liquid and hybrid structures?   
• What are LPs prioritising when selecting or reupping with managers? 
• To what degree should LPs diversify their private debt exposure away from direct lending and into opportunistic credit?

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