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• Private Credit Growth Fund to provide more financing options for high-growth local enterprises

• Private credit market has gained traction globally

• However, few of these funds focus on Asia

SINGAPORE’S introduction of a S$1 billion Private Credit Growth Fund will help local enterprises seeking to raise capital – without borrowing from banks or selling equity – access a fast-growing source that is still nascent in Asia, market participants said.

Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced the fund in his Budget speech on Tuesday (Feb 18), adding that it will “provide more financing options for high-growth local enterprises”.

Wong, who is also prime minister, noted that the private credit market has gained traction globally. However, few of these funds focus on Asia, and much less on Singapore-based enterprises.

Therefore, “local enterprises are not familiar with the emergence of private credit as a form of financing option”, Patrick Yeo, markets leader at PwC, told The Business Times. The setting up of the fund “will raise awareness and thereby provide additional financing options to local enterprises” – particularly those that might not be eligible for bank loans, improving their odds of survival, he added.