Michael Lavipour still remembers the bank office where executives laughed him out of the room. It was 13 years ago, and the head of lending for Affinius Capital was on the hunt for a credit facility to support the investment management firm’s real estate lending practice. As such, he was viewed as the competition. “Flash-forward to today, that particular institution is no longer doing direct lending and is only providing back leverage,” Lavipour said. “They literally did a full 180 on their business practice.” Private credit has gone from upstart to unavoidable in just a few years. As traditional lenders grappled with balance...