Capital Group, the $3.3tn active management giant long known for its near-exclusive focus on public markets, is making a move into private credit through a deepening partnership with KKR, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The Los Angeles-based firm — historically associated with its American Funds franchise and a culture built around long-tenured public-markets portfolio managers — is now positioning private credit as a core growth engine, targeting both retirement savers and mass-affluent retail clients.
According to internal materials seen by Bloomberg, Capital Group and KKR have already launched two co-branded strategies blending public debt with sizeable allocations to private credit. The funds — Capital Group KKR Core Plus+ and Capital Group KKR Multi-Sector+ — allocate roughly 40% to privately originated credit, including direct lending and asset-backed private debt. Together they have already raised more than $500m.
The partnership is set to expand further in 2026, with additional strategies incorporating private equity and real assets, as well as Capital Group’s first target-date retirement fund to include private markets exposure — a significant development for a firm that serves more than 20 million US households and has deep penetration across financial adviser networks.
For KKR, the arrangement gives the $3tn alternatives giant access to one of the largest retail distribution platforms in the US, while for Capital Group it provides immediate scale in private credit — a segment that would have taken the firm “50 years to build on its own,” Chief Executive Mike Gitlin said internally.
The new products are designed to integrate private credit seamlessly into broad portfolio solutions rather than as standalone specialist offerings.
Fee structures are also being deliberately tuned for the retail market, with the co-branded funds charging between 0.84% and 0.89%, with no performance fees — significantly lower than typical private wealth-oriented KKR funds. Capital Group is betting that a more accessible pricing model will accelerate adoption among advisers.
