BlackRock Private Credit Fund CEO Was on Verge of Departure, Stock Already Down 39% This Year
Miles Bennett
Phil Tseng, CEO of BlackRock's listed private-credit fund TCPC, is in the process of leaving; the fund has cut its net asset value twice this year, its stock is down 39%, and Manhattan federal prosecutors are probing its valuation practices.
Why is the CEO leaving?
Phil Tseng is still a BlackRock employee, but people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg his departure is under way — the exact timing has not been set.
Tseng previously founded Tennenbaum Capital Partners, which BlackRock acquired in 2018. He went on to run TCPC and other U.S. direct-lending funds.
Both BlackRock and Tseng declined to comment. This means → the reasons behind his exit remain opaque, but the timing lands squarely in the fund's worst stretch.
How much has this fund lost?
TCPC is a publicly traded business development company — a BDC, essentially a listed vehicle that pools private-credit loans.
It has cut its net asset value twice this year: 19% in January and another 5% in May, both driven by write-downs on troubled investments.
As of Tuesday's close, TCPC stock is down 39% year-to-date. In plain terms = every $10,000 invested at the start of the year is now worth about $6,100.
What are federal prosecutors looking at?
Bloomberg reported in May that the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office has opened a probe into TCPC's valuation practices.
Prosecutors have already interviewed executives tied to the fund. This means → the issue goes beyond bad investments — how the fund priced its assets may itself be in question.
In plain terms = regulators want to know whether those book values were inflated from the start.
How does BlackRock plan to clean this up?
BlackRock acquired HPS Investment Partners in 2025 for roughly $12 billion, partly to move beyond the limitations of legacy funds like TCPC.
Since that deal closed, HPS executives have been stepping into TCPC's day-to-day operations. This reflects a deliberate management swap — new team in, old team out.
TCPC's ongoing losses and the federal probe will test whether BlackRock can actually deliver on its biggest strategic bet in years: building a dominant private-credit franchise.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.