Shrewsbury, New Jersey, October 15, 2026 – Robert A. Stanger & Company, Inc., a nationally recognized leader in non-listed alternative investment products, has published its Q3 2026 edition of The Stanger Closed-End Fund Report. The issue points to a shift in where investor capital is flowing, with redemptions absorbing a growing share of credit fund sales while private equity and venture capital strategies are leading in both fundraising and performance.
Non-listed closed-end funds reached $279 billion in aggregate net asset value in Q3 2026, a 6.7% quarter-over-quarter increase. Tender offer funds grew 9.7% to $136.6 billion, outpacing interval funds, which increased 3.9% to $142.0 billion. The gap reflects where capital is moving: private equity and venture capital funds account for 52.7% of tender offer fund NAV, while credit-focused funds represent 59.6% of interval fund NAV.
Aggregate NAV by investment focus for interval funds and tender offer funds, as detailed in the Q3 2026 edition, is summarized below:
Through August 2026, credit interval fund redemptions rose nearly 89% year-over-year to $9.6 billion, equal to 79% of the category’s gross sales compared with 26% a year earlier. Net sales of credit interval funds fell 83% to $2.6 billion, and net sales of credit tender offer funds declined 15% to $1.8 billion.
The Q3 report provides the first update to Stanger’s fund-level redemption data for the 25 largest credit interval funds. Among the 17 funds with Q3 2026 results, sponsors returned approximately $3.0 billion to investors, or 4.6% of Stanger’s estimated repurchase offer NAV basis, compared with 4.8% for the same funds in the prior quarter. Among Q3 2026 reporters that disclosed requests in both quarters, requests as a percentage of NAV declined at six of nine funds and rose at two, though demand continues to exceed quarterly repurchase capacity at several major funds.
Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund, the largest interval fund, received Q3 2026 requests of approximately 16.0% of NAV according to recent reports, down from 17.0% in Q2 2026, and repurchased up to its 5.0% quarterly cap, or approximately $1.6 billion, leaving an estimated $3.4 billion in requests unmet. Year-to-date, the fund has returned nearly $5.5 billion to investors.
“Credit interval funds are showing some of the same liquidity pressures we have tracked in non-listed BDCs,” said Kevin T. Gannon, Chairman & CEO of Stanger. “Sponsors continue to return substantial capital, but with new fundraising slowing, redemptions are absorbing a much greater share of sales. Unlike NAV BDCs, however, the category remains positive in net sales.”
In contrast, private equity and venture capital strategies are attracting a large share of new capital, accounting for nearly half of year-to-date tender offer fund gross sales through August. Among interval funds, they also lead on performance, producing the top-performing fund in each trailing period and accounting for six of the top ten performers over twelve months.
Available company-level holdings data offer some insight into select leaders, with companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic among the holdings of top performers. “Capital is following performance into private equity and venture capital,” Gannon added. “The open question is how much of that performance reflects recent enthusiasm around AI and a small number of high-profile technology holdings. Investors should understand what is driving headline returns before chasing them.”
As published in the Q3 2026 edition of The Stanger Closed-End Fund Report, interval fund performance leaders across key time periods are summarized in the table below:
To request a copy of The Stanger Closed-End Fund Report or for further information on all available Stanger Publications, please visit our website or contact:
Gregory R. DiSalvo
732.389.3600
gdisalvo@rastanger.com
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About Robert A. Stanger & Co., Inc.
Robert A. Stanger & Co., Inc., founded in 1978, is a nationally recognized investment banking firm specializing in providing investment banking, financial advisory, fairness opinion and asset and securities valuation services to partnerships, real estate investment trusts and real estate advisory and management companies in support of strategic planning, capital formation and financings, mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, and consolidations.
Stanger is also well known for its industry leading publications: The Stanger Report, a nationally recognized comprehensive report focused on non-traded REIT and BDC investing, including aggregate market statistics, total returns by company and total return indices, fee structure comparisons, and profiles of current offerings; The Stanger Market Pulse, a monthly deep-dive into alternative investment fundraising; The Stanger Chairman’s Report, focused on NAV REIT and non-traded BDC sales and redemptions; The Stanger Closed-End Fund Report, focused on non-traded interval fund and tender offer fund investing; Stanger Privates, a quarterly publication focused on Private Placement REITs and BDCs exclusively available to Stanger Institutional Access subscribers; and The Stanger Alt Street Journal, a weekly newsletter providing an update on industry activities.
For More Information:
Kevin T. Gannon | Chairman & CEO | (732) 389-3600
Robert A. Stanger & Co., Inc.
1129 Broad Street, Suite 201
Shrewsbury, NJ 07702
www.rastanger.com
Member: SIPC
