On Monday, September 28, 2026, Metrics Credit Partners, one of Australia's largest private credit managers with about A$40 billion under management, suspended trading in three of its ASX-listed funds before the market opened and cut the value of their assets after its auditor disagreed with assumptions used in the funds' preliminary financial reports. The funds are the Metrics Real Estate Multi-Strategy Fund, the Metrics Income Opportunities Trust and the Metrics Master Income Trust.
In separate filings with the ASX, Metrics said auditor KPMG had made "different decisions" on inputs and probability weightings from those used to prepare the preliminary financial report. The revisions reduced net tangible asset values by 12.16 percent at the Real Estate Multi-Strategy Fund, 10.08 percent at the Income Opportunities Trust and 1.99 percent at the Master Income Trust, the company said. National Business Review reported that the three write-downs total about A$160 million, roughly US$198 million.
The Real Estate Multi-Strategy Fund's net asset value falls to A$2.22 per unit from A$2.53, with most of the reduction attributable to lower fair values on unlisted commercial real estate equity investments; the fund last traded at A$1.68. Metrics said that "in finalising the audited results, greater weight was given to downside scenarios and less favourable potential outcomes". The company also said the audit process resulted in higher provisions for potential losses on loan exposures across the three listed funds, reflecting circumstances such as "interest-rate and macro-economic conditions and heightened regulatory expectations as applied to specific assets and the portfolio".
The suspensions arrive amid heightened scrutiny of Australia's private credit sector, which NBR put at about A$200 billion, following the collapse of property developer Bathla, which owed about A$3 billion to some 40 lenders when it entered administration. Metrics said it has no exposure to Bathla. Australia's corporate regulator warned last week of unrealistic valuations and poor governance practices in the industry and said firms that fail to meet its standards should prepare for enforcement action. Redemption pressure across major private credit funds showed signs of easing in September, with leading managers reporting lower withdrawal requests from retail investors, TradersUnion reported.
What the filings show is a valuation dispute, not a realised loss: the markdowns reflect the auditor's view of inputs and probability weightings, not a sale of assets at the lower values. The suspension is a procedural pause while the audited results are finalised rather than a decision to liquidate the funds, and it does not by itself indicate that investors will be unable to redeem once trading resumes. How far the write-downs will ripple through the sector is unclear: the three cuts differ sharply in size, from just under 2 percent to more than 12 percent, and the largest is tied to unlisted commercial real estate, an asset class whose valuations ASIC has already singled out for scrutiny. Metrics' roughly A$40 billion under management dwarfs the A$160 million in write-downs, so the immediate hit is concentrated in three listed vehicles rather than spread across the manager's whole platform.
Sources
Reuters (via Yahoo Finance): finance.yahoo.com
National Business Review: nbr.co.nz
TradersUnion: tradersunion.com
