BCI launches Investment Grade Private Credit Fund, targets $13 billion deployment over three years 

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) today launched its Investment Grade Private Credit Fund, a dedicated strategy within Capital Markets & Credit Investments that extends BCI’s private credit platform into one of the largest segments of global fixed income. The fund opens with $1.8 billion in direct co-investment commitments and a deployment target of $13 billion over three years. 

The fund includes investment-grade corporate credit and asset-backed financing, with a primary focus on North America and Europe, and the flexibility to pursue opportunities across other geographies. For BCI’s clients who manage long-duration liabilities, the asset class provides attractive returns at investment-grade risk levels, portfolio diversification, and resilience across market cycles. Through privately negotiated transactions, it offers stronger covenants and structural protections than comparable publicly traded bonds, with premiums that reflect complexity, customization, and speed of execution rather than additional credit risk.  

“We look at credit holistically and can go where the risk-return is most attractive for our clients. Investment-grade private credit is a compelling opportunity, and one where few institutional investors have meaningfully moved,” said Daniel Garant, Executive Vice President & Global Head, Capital Markets & Credit Investments. “BCI brings deep credit experience and distinct advantages to this market. We have the scale and agility to act quickly on complex deals, and the sourcing and in-house underwriting capabilities to invest selectively.” 

“We deliberately focused on co-investments first, actively deploying over the past year, which only deepened our conviction,” said Kenton Freitag, Senior Managing Director, Private Debt. “As private markets become an increasingly important source of financing across the economy, the new fund is well positioned to provide investment-grade borrowers with flexible, privately negotiated capital, backed by a growing portfolio and proven partner relationships.” 

Established in response to strong client demand and a US$30-trillion market opportunity, the fund builds on the success of BCI’s mid-market direct lending strategy, the Principal Credit Fund, which has grown to $22.2 billion in assets under management — applying the same expertise, disciplined credit selection, and low-cost operating structure to a distinct and substantially larger opportunity set. Now formalized with a dedicated team and pool of capital, the investment-grade private credit strategy reflects the strength and continued evolution of BCI’s global private credit platform.