Kroll and StepStone Launch Payment-in-Kind Indicators for Private Credit Benchmarks

Kroll, a independent provider of global financial and risk advisory solutions, and StepStone Group, a global private markets solutions provider, announced on September 8, 2025 the launch of the Kroll StepStone Private Credit Benchmarks. The companies describe the Benchmarks as a new industry standard intended to enable more rigorous valuation and deeper insight into the investment characteristics of the private credit asset class.

The Benchmarks are built on loan-level data and information from more than 15,000 deals, which the companies contrast with fund-level aggregates or modeled estimates. The data is presented on an anonymized basis and is updated weekly with new primary market data. Users can filter insights across regions, sectors, size and loan security, with coverage spanning U.S. and European markets. The companies say this supports more timely capital allocation decisions, portfolio monitoring, and assessment of loan terms and pricing.

Jacob Silverman, CEO of Kroll, linked the launch to rising investor interest in private markets, which he attributed in part to the "retailification" of private capital, and said the firm expects investors to allocate more to private markets in coming years. Marcel Schindler, Partner and CEO of StepStone Private Debt, said the offering combines Kroll's private credit dataset with complementary data from StepStone's SPI by StepStone platform. Michael H. Dolan, President of Financial Advisory at Kroll, cited a view that retail investors control more than 50% of global wealth but only about 20% of private market assets under management, describing the industry as being at an inflection point. Tyler Johnson, Partner and Chief Technology Officer of StepStone Group, described robust benchmarking as a long-standing challenge in private markets.

The Benchmarks are accessible through the Private Capital Markets Platform, which is part of Kroll's Private Asset Valuation Solutions. A joint webinar to introduce the product was scheduled for September 16, 2025. As of June 30, 2025, StepStone reported approximately $723 billion in total capital, including $199 billion in assets under management.