“When you go through a period when it’s super easy to raise money for any purpose or no purpose, and you go into a period when it’s difficult to raise money, even for a good purpose, clearly many more companies are going to founder,” Marks said in an interview taped for an upcoming episode of Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein.
When asked whether he expects more defaults in the buyouts or real estate industries in the next three years, Marks told Rubenstein that the combination of having less money and a higher cost of capital will leave a “hole” that some firms can’t fill.Asset managers and real estate investors are contending with the toughest borrowing environment since the 2008 global financial crisis.
The Fed funds rate was roughly zero for much of the period between 2009 to 2021, which Marks said is an “inappropriate” level because it subsidizes borrowers and punishes lenders and savers. He thinks the US Federal Reserve will keep rates between 2% and 4% once inflation abates, which he views as a suitable range.