The Bathla crossroads of Alceon and Centuria Bass

The Australian private credit peat fire smoulders on – only the disclaimer du jour has changed. In the eye of the SaaSpocalypse six months ago, defiant private credit managers insisted, "We don't do corporate lending!"[[Now, anyone in the traditional corporate lending part of private credit is bragging, "We don't do real estate!"]] That has now shifted to, "We're not in Bathla!" 

One private credit manager that sadly can't say "We're not in Bathla" is the failed developer's third-largest lender, Centuria Bass Credit. It is owed approximately $250 million, behind only CVS Lane and PAG, and last month gated redemptions and closed new applications on two Bathla-exposed wholesale funds. Shares in Centuria Bass's ASX-listed parent, Centuria Capital Group, are down 45 per cent since mid-June. 

There is a real Choose Your Own Adventure gamebook in the respective Bathla experiences of Centuria Bass and Alceon, the investment house of former Babcock & Brown CEO Phil Green, his fellow Babcock alumnus Trevor Loewensohn and ex-Macquarie banker Morris Symonds.

In November last year, Alceon was at the tail end of exiting its approximately $450 million exposure to multiple Bathla projects. Alceon had by that point provided debt funding to more than 50 Bathla projects over the previous decade but started refinancing out of any remaining projects to 12 other lenders from late 2024.