The Toronto-based private lender has suspended withdrawals from its flagship private debt fund, adding to growing concerns about risks building in Canada’s rapidly expanding private lending market. (The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: In a memo to clients, Cortland said the pause was driven by an “overweight single-name concentration” in its Cortland Credit Strategies fund. The firm, which managed about $1.2 billion in assets in 2024, said suspending redemptions would let it rebalance the portfolio and protect investor value, though the process depends on market conditions and is taking longer than anticipated. Private debt funds became popular in Canada during the low-interest-rate era by lending to higher-risk borrowers shut out of traditional bank credit, often promising yields above 10 per cent. Those funds are typically illiquid and impose quarterly caps on investor redemptions, a structure that came under strain when interest rates picked up in 2022.

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