Metrics Credit Partners freeze: what it means for investors and what you can do

If you hold units in a Metrics fund, a freeze means you cannot withdraw until the manager says so. Metrics suspended trading in its three listed funds and froze applications and redemptions in the unlisted wholesale funds behind them in late September 2026. Your loans are still there. Your control over when cash comes back is not.

This page sets out what was reported, what a freeze changes in practice, and the choices that remain. Facts here come from press coverage and ASIC; the situation was still moving when this was written, so confirm current status with your manager or the ASX.

What did Metrics actually do?

According to Alternative Credit Investor, Metrics Credit Partners suspended trading in three ASX-listed funds: Metrics Master Income Trust (MXT), Metrics Income Opportunities Trust (MOT) and Metrics Real Estate Multi-Strategy Fund (MRE). It then marked down all three and froze applications and redemptions in the unlisted wholesale funds that sit behind them.

The reported net tangible asset cuts were uneven: about 12.16% for the real estate fund, 10.08% for the income opportunities trust and 1.99% for the master income trust. The trigger was an audit disagreement. KPMG made “different decisions” on valuation inputs and probability weightings from those in Metrics’ preliminary reports, and said it could not sign off the listed trusts’ reports by the 30 September deadline. The Nightly reported that the listed funds stay suspended until the reports are released.

Metrics manages roughly $40 billion in total, and coverage put the frozen feeder funds at somewhere between $9 billion and $11 billion depending on the outlet. Treat those as press figures, not audited ones.

Is a frozen fund the same as a failed fund?

No, and mixing them up leads to bad decisions in both directions.

A freeze is a manager exercising a power in the fund’s own documents. ASIC describes a frozen fund as one where the responsible entity has suspended investors’ rights to redeem. Borrowers may well be paying interest as normal. What has changed is that the price of your units is now uncertain and the exit has closed.

But a freeze is not harmless either. The write-downs in the listed trusts show the value of units can move before any loan defaults, because valuation is a judgement and the auditor disagreed with it. Time is a cost too: our history of Australian fund collapses shows how long some GFC-era freezes ran.

What does a freeze mean for your cash and timing?

It depends on which door you came through.

Two practical points. First, income may continue, since borrowers keep paying, but the unit price is under review. Second, when redemptions restart, they rarely restart in full. Managers commonly pay in stages or pro rata, which is how a gate lasts longer than the headline suggests. For the mechanics, see what a redemption freeze is and the steps in getting your money out of a mortgage fund.

What are your options right now?

Fewer than people hope, so use them well.

1. Read every notice, then file them. Note dates, the stated reason, and any change to unit prices. You may need the record later.
2. Ask four questions in writing. When will audited accounts be released? What exactly changed in the unit price? Does any investor have side-letter redemption terms? How will withdrawals be paid when they restart?
3. Do not sell at a deep discount without thinking. Secondary buyers price in the uncertainty, and you may lock in a loss on loans that go on to repay.
4. Check hardship rules if you are in a registered scheme. ASIC says a responsible entity is not obliged to offer hardship withdrawals, so ask rather than assume.
5. Work out your concentration. How much of your income capital sits in structures that can gate? That number matters more than any single fund.
6. Take advice if super is involved. Trustees of an SMSF still have their investment strategy and liquidity obligations to meet while the fund is frozen.

If you are weighing where freed-up capital should go once a fund reopens, you can register your interest and ask our Funding Manager to show you what a single-loan pack looks like.

Why does this keep happening in private credit?

Because of a structural gap, not bad luck. Funds promise withdrawals monthly or quarterly while their loans run longer, and valuations are done by the manager. ASIC’s REP 820 surveillance of 28 funds found weak conflicts policies, the same committees approving and valuing loans, and side letters that gave some investors better redemption terms. On 22 September, a week before the Metrics freeze, ASIC said the sector should prepare for enforcement action.

The regulator is also acting on retail products. In October it issued an interim stop order stopping Fidante Partners from issuing Class A units in the Ares Global Credit Income Fund because ASIC believed the target market determination was “not appropriate”, including a suggested allocation of up to 50% of investable assets. ASIC revoked the order on 21 October after the TMD was amended. The pattern is clear: scrutiny is on liquidity promises, valuations and how much of a portfolio people are told to put in.

Listed vs unlisted: why were both stuck?

Many investors assume a listed trust is liquid because it trades on the ASX. That holds only while the market is open. When a trust is suspended, the listing gives you nothing.

The Metrics case showed both mechanisms tripping at once, because both depend on the same audited valuations.

How does co-funding one loan compare?

HomeSec Business Finance, an Australian private lender founded in 2004, takes a different route. It funds most of its loans off its own balance sheet and, on some, invites wholesale investors to co-fund alongside it, with its own money in every loan offered. You choose a specific loan from its due diligence pack. You are named on the registered mortgage for your exact contribution, and principal and interest go straight to your own bank account.

That does not remove risk. A borrower can repay late or default, and in that case the property has to be sold. HomeSec lends to a maximum 80% LVR on residential property, with lower LVRs on commercial, and does no construction or development loans, which keeps the equity buffer and the sale route straightforward. Returns are 12% to 18% p.a. on the loans you choose. See how it works, our lending rules and the risks and protections for each loan.

What should you do before you move any money?

Before reallocating, use the same test on every option, including ours: how long can my money be held up, who decides, and what happens to my share if others want out first? Our questions to ask a private credit manager and 10-point safety test put that into a checklist you can use on any fund. For the side-by-side with pools, read direct mortgage investment vs pooled funds.

Where to from here?

A freeze is a reminder that liquidity promised by a fund is only as good as the loans behind it. If part of your income capital has been parked in a structure you cannot touch, it is reasonable to look at a model where each loan has a maturity, a named property and your name on the mortgage.

There is no obligation to fund anything, and you decide on each loan. If you would like to see one, talk to our Funding Manager and ask for the next loan pack.