US direct lending deal volume jumped 10% in 1Q26 to nearly USD 82bn compared to 1Q25, while the number of deals slightly declined to 838, according to Debtwire‘s 1Q26 Direct Lender Rankings report.

The gains came even as refinancing activity notably declined, driven by a major fall in refis in the healthcare and consumer/retail sectors, according to Debtwire data. Just USD 600m of healthcare loans were refinanced in the quarter compared to over USD 8bn in 1Q25. The decline comes as there is rising distress among private credit healthcare borrowers.

Market Share

Overall, leveraged buyouts remained the largest driver of direct lending activity in 1Q26, accounting for 32% of total volume. M&A financing excluding buyouts represented the second-largest share of activity at 21%, while general corporate purposes jumped to 20% of issuance, up from 6% a year prior, as refinancing activity fell to 18% of volume from 33% in 1Q25.

In the syndicated market, refinancings accounted for 71% of leveraged loan activity and 55% of high-yield bond issuance during the quarter, according to Debtwire data.

Direct lending pricing spreads held relatively steady, coming in at 504bps on average in 1Q26 and 200bps over syndicated loans, compared to 486bps in 4Q25 and 519bps in 1Q25.

Rankings highlights

Blackstone Credit overtook Ares for first place in the first quarter with 44 deals and a 6.6% market share based on deal count. Ares came in at 37 deals with a 5.5% market share, closely followed by Monroe Capital with 36 deals and a 5.4% share.

In the large-cap segment, Antares took first place with 13 deals and a 26% market share, followed by Apollo and Goldman Sachs Private Credit in joint second with nine deals and an 18% share, respectively.

In mid-cap, Churchill Asset Management came first with 18 deals and a 21.4% market share, closely followed by Audax Private Debt with 17 deals and a 20.2% market share. In third place, Antares took a 15.5% market share with 13 deals.

Over in the small cap space, Antares came out on top again in joint first place with Principal Asset Management, each with 12 deals and a 12.8% market share. In joint third place, Churchill Asset Management and Monroe Capital recorded eight deals.

Sector trends

Despite widespread concerns about AI disrupting software companies, the TMT sector dominated direct lending activity, attracting USD 17.6bn in financing and outpacing the next most active sector, industrials, by almost USD 5bn.

Healthcare came in third with USD 11.8bn in deals, followed by business services at USD 8.5bn.

Monroe Capital was the most active lender in the TMT space by deal count with an 8.6% market share, while Audax and Churchill were the most active lenders in the Industrials space, both with an 8.4% share.

For a deeper dive into sectoral and other trends, download Debtwire’s full 1Q26 US Direct Lender Rankings report.