The Data Tapes

Setpoint's Bite-Sized Debt Newsletter: July Edition I

The Latest in ABS and Debt Markets

Welcome to The Data Tapes—your biweekly snapshot of private credit and ABS markets. In each edition, we bring you concise updates on debt financings, platform fundraises, data insights, market trends, and the latest from Setpoint.

🚀 What’s New at Setpoint

  • 📖 Customer Spotlight: How Fundbox Scaled Smarter

    As Fundbox expanded its funding programs and prepared for its first ABS deal, the capital markets team tackled rising complexity head-on. With Setpoint, they automated borrower reporting, optimized asset allocation, and strengthened lender relationships—unlocking more debt capacity and cutting reporting time in half. Read the full story

  • Ben Rubenstein named to Inman’s 2025 Best of Finance list.

    We’re proud to share that our Co-Founder and President, Ben Rubenstein, was recognized as one of Inman’s Best of Finance honorees for 2025 — highlighting leaders driving innovation in the lending ecosystem. Check out the full list

💸 Debt Financings & Acquisitions

💰️Platform Growth

📈 Visuals

 🗣️ Market Commentary

  • “What does a factory do? It’s, ‘I want to get as many widgets out the door as fast as possible, as cheap as possible…regardless of what the environment is.” - Alan Waxman, CEO of Sixth Street on the Risks of Commodification in Private Credit

  • “No one should be the least bit surprised when returns suffer and there are meaningful impairments in the recoveries of private credit lenders. Too much capital has come in too quickly to the private credit market, and its being allocated by firms with no proven track records as credit underwriters. One of the truisms of distressed-debt investing is that where there is an overallocation of capital, there will be mistakes.” - Andrew Milgram, Managing Partner and CIO at Marblegate on Tightening in Private Credit Markets 

  • “Europe has probably shifted the most in terms of a positive forward trajectory in terms of the opportunity sets. We did not see the same exuberance in aggressive capital structures and buying activities like you did see in the US. From a legal perspective, Europe has a very strong backdrop in terms of creditor protections. Third, Europe is now stimulating its economy by spending, especially defense spending. We’re seeing a broad based increase in M&A activity in Europe.” - Armen Panossian, Co-CEO and Head of Performing Credit at Oaktree on the European market opportunity in Credit 

  • “GPs and LPs also face other market pressures. Market volatility, particularly in public equities, has pushed some LPs to seek liquidity from private fund holdings to rebalance their overall portfolios so that they can meet strict asset-class allocation mandates. That has ratcheted up the pressure for GPs at older funds to return capital to LPs and raise capital for new funds. Yet those same GPs increasingly seek to maintain ownership over high-performing assets beyond their original fund lifetime, usually due to a desire to continue to create value from core “trophy” assets.” - Kevin Alexander, Ares Co-Head of Alternative Credit on Catalysts Fueling Growth in Fund Finance Opportunity 

  • “Investment in renewable energy infrastructure may provide a clever way to tackle that challenge. The opportunity set in this arena is expansive. Last year, the world invested almost twice as much in clean energy as it did in fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. Financing is increasingly coming from private capital providers who are able to structure assets that can meet life insurers’ unique needs. These assets can come with investment-grade ratings from the major ratings agencies, which may increase relative attractiveness on a capital-adjusted yield and spread basis. And maturities in the 20-year range make them a good match for insurers with long-term liabilities.” - Xiaoyu Gu, Deanna Leighton, and Gerry Anderson from AB CarVal on Overlaps with Clean Energy Infrastructure Investments and Insurance Capital

📖 What We’re Reading & Listening To

Reading
  • 2025 Midyear Outlook (Capital Group)

  • A Few Things We Learned: Q2 2025 (Octahedron Capital)

  • Lenders Find a Fast-Growing Market in Foreign Grad Students (Bloomberg)

  • Global Credit Quarterly: 3Q2025 (BlackRock)

  • Hedge funds seek to expand into private credit (FT)

  • High-Deductible Health Insurance Plans and the Rise of BNPL in Healthcare (Solomon Partners)

  • Home Equity Investments: The Tipping Point for Alternative Financing (Hometap)  

  • HPS Struts Into BlackRock as Fink Bets Big on Private Credit (Bloomberg)

  • International: A Glimpse into Global ABS 2025 (Baker McKenzie)

  • Liquidity Solutions: Are You Ready for the Next Stage of Fund Finance Growth? (Ares)

  • Litigation Finance Levy Cut from Tax Bill by Senate Referee (Bloomberg Law)

  • Private Asset-Backed Credit: How Structural Protections Drive Resilient Performance (Waterfall Asset Management)

  • Private Credit Outlook: Five Lessons Learned (AllianceBernstein)

  • Private Equity Outlook for the second half of 2025 (Apollo)

  • Trump’s Tax Bill Set to Help SoFi, Other Private Student Lenders (Bloomberg)

Podcasts & Interviews
  • A Promise to Pay with Michael Haynes, head of private credit at Beach Point (Grant’s)

  • Ares Co-President Blair Jacobson at SuperReturn International 2025 (Ares)

  • Investors First: Converging Public and Private Markets with Mark Rowan (Morningstar)

  • Private Credit Heavyweight HPS Sees ‘Huge Opportunity’ in Fund Finance (Bloomberg Credit Edge)

  • ‘Proceed Cautiously’ with Private Credit: Oaktree co-CEO (Bloomberg)

  • Real Opportunity in Real Assets (Guggenheim Macro Markets)

  • Supply and Demand with Wayne Dahl and Suzana Perić (Oaktree Insights)

  • The Intersection between Asset Managers and Insurers with Mike Consedine of Athene (Credit Clubhouse)