Bain Capital credit funds facing big losses-WSJ

BANGALORE, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Some high profile credit investment funds of private equity firm Bain Capital LLC are facing losses of as much as 50 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The firm's credit affiliate, Sankaty Advisors LLC, has lost between 40 percent and 50 percent across two funds that bought up highly secured corporate loans, people familiar with the matter told the paper.

The two funds had roughly $4 billion in assets just a few weeks ago, and used a relatively low amount of borrowed money to fund their investments, the Journal said.

U.S. stocks tumbled to five-year lows on Wednesday as investors grappled with an increasingly dire outlook for the global economy following a raft of disappointing profits and outlooks from major U.S. companies.

Bain's losses will come as a blow to a group of top-tier institutions that have been investors with the Boston-based firm, which is among the world's biggest private equity firms, the paper said.

Some of these institutions include Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Notre Dame, the Journal said.

All these institutions have some money invested in Bain's money-losing credit funds, two of which include Sankaty's Special Situations and Prospect Harbor, the paper said. Calls to Bain Capital seeking comment were not immediately returned. (Reporting by Shradhha Sharma in Bangalore and Jui Chakravorty in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)