Macquarie touts infrastructure credit-focused BDC

Macquarie is converting its Infrastructure Income Opportunities Fund into a business development company, a regulatory filing shows, as the financial services giant looks to tap into private credit opportunities linked to sectors such as energy and transportation.

BDCs, high-yield funds that invest in private credit, have enjoyed rapid growth over the last decade, but sales of the asset class tanked earlier this year amid market turmoil in private credit.

Nonetheless, Macquarie clearly sees opportunity in the BDC space and has filed with the SEC for the Infrastructure Income Opportunities Fund to be regulated as a BDC.

The BDC, which is targeted at wealth investors, focuses on infrastructure-focused private credit and invests primarily in private loans, bonds, leases and asset-backed financing. These are tied to infrastructure sectors such as energy, digital infrastructure, transportation, water, waste management, social infrastructure and climate-related assets.

In the filing, Macquarie said that investments with infrastructure-like characteristics could include transportation leasing platforms, specialty environmental or waste services, energy transition assets such as battery storage and education facilities or emergency services.

The BDC harnesses Macquarie Asset Management’s existing private credit platform.

“The company seeks to invest in Infrastructure Investments that are characterized by contracted cashflows, stability and resilience, and seeks to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns with a focus on consistent cash yield and downside protection,” Macquarie said, in the filing.

While most of the company’s investments are expected to be in private U.S. companies, in line with BDC requirements, it may invest up to 30% of its portfolio in non-qualifying assets, including companies located outside of the U.S., according to the filing.

However, the broader BDC landscape points to the recent challenges that the asset class has faced. Last year’s decline in BDC fundraising, for example, declined sharply in April, according to research released in May by Robert A. Stanger & Co. Inc. Combined publicly registered and private placement BDC sales totaled approximately $1.6 billion in April, according to the investment banking firm, down 74% from April 2025 and the lowest monthly total since May 2023.