Opening the private credit market to a new class of investors 

As a sassy thirty-something, Shelby Clark couldn’t find an investment that easily fit her budget and needs. So, she created one – a private credit fund people can access for as little as $1.

When Shelby Clark joined private credit firm GPS Investment Fund, she was impressed by the attractive and stable returns the asset class delivered to investors. She wanted to invest her own savings in private credit but soon realised it wasn’t that easy.

Globally, private credit is attracting investors due to the income it can provide, offering some of the highest historical returns across debt markets. Those returns have been achieved with relatively low volatility, the IMF said in a 2024 report, The Rise and Risks of Private Credit, in its Global Financial Stability Report. However, until recently, it has been difficult to access without substantial wealth, as many funds require minimum investments of $20,000 or more.

As a thirty-something with a mortgage, Clark saw there were few options for her to gain exposure to these assets. Yet she also saw that there were plenty of other young people also looking for alternative investments with less risk than is associated with growth assets like shares or cryptocurrencies.

“There was just nothing for people like me that wanted to get into that market,” says Clark. “I could see the returns for GPS’s investors over the years. And I thought, ‘I wish I could get into this’.”

Clark decided to change that by creating a new GPS fund that allows investors to access private credit with as little as $1. With term deposit interest rates falling and residential property increasingly unaffordable, Clark, who was working in a marketing role when she first had the idea, launched the Arkus fund for younger investors after becoming Chief Operating Officer.

“I created Arkus on the side while I was doing everything else. And then I pitched it to the board earlier this year, and they said, ‘We like it, Shelby – go for it.’ So I built it and launched it.

“We’ve built the fund so that people can add to it as often as they want and however much they like. That is key; with a cost-of-living crisis, people can say, ‘Well, I can only afford to put $50 a week away’. Additionally, the fund allows for monthly withdrawals. So, people can save money without having to lock it up.

“Arkus is a fund for people like me: people who work hard, save carefully, but want more than a bank account that crawls along.”

Managed by a team with more than 30 years of experience, Arkus, launched in July, is backed by registered first-mortgage investments over residential property developments in Southeast Queensland.

It will pay investors a yield of around 6.5% per annum, compared to term deposit rates offered by Australia’s major banks, which generally sit below 4%.

Shelby has also focused on how GPS communicates about the product, making complex investment concepts clearer and more transparent – and boosting awareness of this relatively new asset class.

Australian private credit funds are currently delivering returns to investors of around 6% to 12%, with riskier funds returning more and less risky funds, such as Arkus, at the lower end of that band.

As younger investors increasingly become interested in private credit, expect to see more fund managers find ways to make this asset class more accessible.

To learn more about Arkus, visit gpsinvest.com.au 

Arkus Fund (ARSN: 686 375 422) (Fund) is provided by GPS Investment Fund Limited (ABN: 40 145 378 383) (AFSL: 383080) (GPS). The above is general information only and does not consider individual financial positions or objectives. GPS cannot provide financial product advice. Consider the terms of the Fund’s PDS and TMD, and seek independent advice before investing.