What Is an Interval Fund? The Rule, 170 Funds and Who Got Paid
Quick Answer
An interval fund is a closed-end fund that has adopted a fundamental policy, under SEC Rule 23c-3, to offer to buy back its own shares at NAV on a fixed schedule. The rule sets the terms: the interval is three, six or twelve months; each offer is for 5% to 25% of shares; the fund prices the repurchase no later than 14 days after the request deadline and pays within 7 days after that; any repurchase fee is capped at 2% of proceeds. If holders ask for more than the offer, the fund may buy up to 2% more and otherwise prorates. It can suspend an offer only by board vote and only in the cases the rule lists. How many there are, as of October 9, 2026: 170 funds filed 637 Form N-23C-3 repurchase notices with the SEC between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026 (our count of the EDGAR form indexes); 122 of them filed four, one per quarter. Who got paid: in the 2026 shareholder reports of 13 interval funds we read, 7 bought every share tendered in every window and 5 prorated at least once: First Eagle Credit Opportunities Fund filled 25.25% of requests in April 2026, Apollo Diversified Credit Fund about 27% in August 2026, Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund 31.9% in April (our arithmetic). The 13th did not say how much was tendered.
Key Takeaways
- The legal core is one paragraph of 17 CFR 270.23c-3: an interval of three, six or twelve months, an offer of 5% to 25% of shares, pricing no later than 14 days after the deadline, payment 7 days after pricing, a fee of no more than 2% of proceeds, and proration when requests exceed the offer plus an optional 2%.
- The rule does let a fund suspend or postpone an offer, but only by a majority of the directors, including a majority of the independent ones, and only for the listed reasons (losing tax status as a regulated investment company, a closed or restricted market, an emergency, or an SEC order). Saying the offer cannot be suspended overstates it.
- The count: 637 Form N-23C-3 filings by 170 funds from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026 (our count). 122 funds filed four notices, 19 filed two, 9 filed one (mostly new funds) and three filed twelve, one a month. Over the 15 months from July 1, 2025 to October 2, 2026 the same method gives the 171 funds of our list of interval funds.
- Paid in full in every 2026 window: FS Credit Income, GoldenTree Opportunistic Credit, PIMCO Flexible Credit Income, PIMCO Flexible Real Estate Income, StepStone Private Credit Income, Blue Owl Alternative Credit and Capital Group KKR Multi-Sector+. Prorated at least once: First Eagle Credit Opportunities, Franklin BSP Private Credit, Apollo Diversified Credit, Carlyle Tactical Private Credit and Apollo Diversified Real Estate.
- Costs vary more than the label suggests: Fundrise's real estate interval fund asks $1,000 and lists 1.78% of total annual expenses; Cliffwater Corporate Lending's Class I asks $10,000,000 and lists 3.20%, of which 1.68% is interest on borrowings; Carlyle Tactical Private Credit lists 6.19% to 6.94% by class, including a 1.46% incentive fee and 2.84% of interest.
- The difference from a non-traded REIT or BDC is who decides: BREIT's plan is capped at 2% of NAV a month and 5% a quarter and its board may “modify or suspend” it; BCRED's board may repurchase up to 5% a quarter “at the discretion of our Board”. An interval fund's offer is a fundamental policy that only a shareholder vote can change.
CSV · 110 rows
Interval funds from SEC sources, 2026: Rule 23c-3 terms, the count of funds filing Form N-23C-3, repurchase results, fees and minimums
110 rows: the terms of Rule 23c-3 in the rule's own words; the count of Form N-23C-3 filings and filers from the EDGAR form indexes (October 2025 to September 2026) by frequency and month; two offer notices; 2026 repurchase results for 13 interval funds from their N-CSR and N-CSRS reports; fees and minimums from three prospectuses; and the repurchase terms of BREIT and BCRED for comparison.
An interval fund is defined by one SEC rule, not by what it owns
“Interval fund” is not a legal category on its own. It is a closed-end fund, registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, that has chosen to make periodic repurchase offers under Rule 23c-3. Inside it can be almost anything: corporate loans, real estate, municipal bonds, reinsurance, private equity funds. What makes it an interval fund is the exit door, and that door is described in the rule itself (saved from the eCFR, current as of October 7, 2026).
| Term | What Rule 23c-3 says | What it means for a holder |
|---|---|---|
| How often | Periodic interval shall mean an interval of three, six, or twelve months | Most funds pick quarterly. The schedule is written into a policy the board cannot change on its own. |
| How much | not be less than five percent nor more than twenty-five percent of the common stock outstanding on a repurchase request deadline | The board sets the size of each offer within that range. Most funds in our sample offer the 5% minimum. |
| Notice | No less than twenty-one and no more than forty-two days before each repurchase request deadline | You get three to six weeks to decide, and the fund files the notice with the SEC as Form N-23C-3. |
| Price | no later than the fourteenth day after a repurchase request deadline | You commit before you know the price. The NAV can move between the deadline and the pricing date. |
| Payment | A repurchase payment deadline shall occur seven days after the repurchase pricing date | Cash arrives at most about three weeks after the deadline. |
| Fee | only a repurchase fee, not to exceed two percent of the proceeds | The fee goes to the fund, not the manager. Many charge nothing; some charge 2% if you sell within a year. |
| Too many sellers | the company may repurchase an additional amount of stock not to exceed two percent of the common stock outstanding | On a 5% offer the fund may stretch to 7%. Beyond that, it must prorate. |
| Proration | the company shall repurchase the shares tendered on a pro rata basis | Everyone gets the same fraction of what they asked. The rest waits for the next offer. |
| Small holders | less than one hundred shares and who tender all of their stock | A fund may buy out holders of fewer than 100 shares in full before prorating the rest. |
| Cash on hand | at least 100 percent of the repurchase offer amount shall consist of assets that can be sold | During an offer the fund must hold liquid assets at least equal to the offer. |
| Suspension | shall not suspend or postpone a repurchase offer except pursuant to a vote of a majority of the directors | Possible, but only by board vote and only for the reasons listed in the rule. |
| Reporting | the amount tendered in each repurchase offer | The annual report must say how much was tendered, which is how you learn whether holders were prorated. |
Source: 17 CFR 270.23c-3, paragraphs (a)(1), (a)(3) to (a)(5), (b)(1) to (b)(5) and (b)(10), text saved from ecfr.gov on October 9, 2026.
Two consequences follow. First, an interval fund is not a mutual fund: you cannot sell on any day you choose, only into the next offer, and only up to the fund's share of the offer. Second, “mandatory” describes the offer, not the result. The fund must offer; it does not have to buy everything you tender.
Can an interval fund suspend its repurchase offer?
Yes, narrowly. The rule says the fund “shall not suspend or postpone a repurchase offer except pursuant to a vote of a majority of the directors, including a majority of the directors who are not interested persons”, and only if the repurchase would cost it its tax status as a regulated investment company, if the relevant market is closed or restricted, during an emergency that makes selling or valuing assets impracticable, or for periods the SEC permits by order. FS Credit Income Fund repeats the same four grounds in its June 2026 report. Compared with a non-traded REIT, where the board can change the plan at will, this is a much harder door to close, but it is not a door that cannot close.
How one offer works, with the dates from a real notice
Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund, the largest interval fund on our list of interval funds, filed its third-quarter notice on July 28, 2026 (Form N-23C-3, accession 0001213900-26-082097). It reads like a calendar:
| Step | Date (2026) | What the notice says |
|---|---|---|
| Offer opens | July 28 | The repurchase offer period will begin on July 28, 2026 and end on August 31, 2026 |
| Size | up to five percent (5%) of its outstanding shares | |
| Last known NAV | July 23 | $10.28 per share |
| Request deadline and pricing date | August 31 | Both on the same day, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time |
| Payment | By September 7 (our arithmetic) | within seven (7) calendar days from the Repurchase Pricing Date |
| Fee | The Fund will not charge a repurchase fee | |
| If more than 7% is tendered | pro rata, except holders of less than $2,500 who tender everything |
The offer ran 34 days (our arithmetic), inside the rule's 21-to-42-day window. Cliffwater prices on the deadline itself, which removes the 14-day price risk; many funds do the same. Its record of what it bought, quarter by quarter, is on our CCLFX repurchase page.
An offer open as we write: Apollo Diversified Real Estate Fund's notice dated September 24, 2026 offers to buy up to 5% of its shares, and “all repurchase requests must be received in good order prior to 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on November 3, 2026” (Form N-23C-3, accession 0001398344-26-017504).
How many interval funds are there? 170 filed in the last 12 months
Every offer under Rule 23c-3 requires a Form N-23C-3 filing, so the SEC's own filing indexes are the cleanest census. We took every line of form type N-23C3A, N-23C3A/A and N-23C3B in the EDGAR quarterly form indexes and counted the twelve months from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026.
| Notices filed in the 12 months | Funds | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 122 | A quarterly interval fund, the standard design |
| 5 | 5 | Quarterly, plus an amended notice (four funds) or a shifted schedule (one) |
| 3 | 11 | Quarterly funds whose first offer came in 2026, or whose offers fell just outside the window |
| 2 | 19 | Semiannual schedules (Bow River, Cascade, Cashmere and others) or funds that began offering in spring 2026 |
| 1 | 9 | Eight funds whose first notice came from May 2026 on, and one that stopped (USQ Core Real Estate Fund, October 3, 2025) |
| 8 | 1 | KKR Asset-Based Finance Fund, which filed two notices on the same day each quarter |
| 12 | 3 | Monthly offers: Invesco Senior Loan Fund, Voya Credit Income Fund and Arca U.S. Treasury Fund |
| Total | 170 funds, 637 filings | Our count; 632 original notices, 4 amendments and 1 N-23C3B |
The three monthly filers are a reminder that the label covers different products. Invesco Senior Loan Fund's October 2, 2026 notice tells holders: “You will receive a notice similar to this once per month.” The rule's text lists intervals of three, six or twelve months, and the notice does not explain the monthly schedule; we did not read further. Filings are spread through the year, from 39 in October 2025 to 66 in September 2026 (our count by month, in the CSV).
The same method over fifteen months (July 1, 2025 to October 2, 2026) gives 786 filings by 171 funds, the universe behind our list of interval funds ranked by net assets, where the 169 with a portfolio report on file held $140.37B. The two counts agree. A fund that makes offers by tender instead (see below) does not file Form N-23C-3 and is in neither count.
Paid in full or prorated: what 13 funds reported for 2026
The promise is an offer. The result is in the shareholder report. We read the 2026 annual or semiannual reports (Form N-CSR or N-CSRS) of 13 interval funds that publish a repurchase table. This is not a random sample: we found them by searching EDGAR's full text for the phrase “repurchase offer amount” in reports filed from July to October 2026, then kept those that show what was tendered or say whether requests were paid in full, plus Apollo Diversified Real Estate Fund's report for the half-year to March 31, 2026.
| Fund | Window (2026 unless noted) | Offer | What happened | Source (accession) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Eagle Credit Opportunities Fund | January 7 / April 7 | 7% | Prorated: 32.90% and 25.25% of shares tendered were bought (8,173,557 and 8,794,485 tendered) | N-CSRS, 0001104659-26-105304 |
| Apollo Diversified Credit Fund | February 3 / May 5 / August 4 | 5% | In full in February; about 35% of 10,814,698 shares in May; about 27% of 13,720,453 in August | N-CSRS, 0001398344-26-016399 |
| Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund | January 6 / April 7 / July 7 | 5% | In full in January (4.93% tendered); 15.65% and 11.82% of shares tendered in April and July, 5.00% bought: 31.9% and 42.3% filled (our arithmetic) | N-CSRS, 0001725472-26-000005 |
| Franklin BSP Private Credit Fund | March 23 / June 22 | about 5% | Prorated: 632,585 of 2,768,621 and 612,196 of 2,080,533 shares tendered, 22.8% and 29.4% (our arithmetic) | N-CSRS, 0001133228-26-012205 |
| Apollo Diversified Real Estate Fund | November 4, 2025 / February 3 / May 5 | 5% | Prorated: about 30%, 27% and 27% of shares tendered | N-CSRS, 0001398344-26-010317 |
| FS Credit Income Fund | March 11 / June 10 | 7% / 5% | In full: 7.00% tendered against 7%; 5.10% against 5%, with the extra 0.10% bought under Rule 23c-3(b)(5) | N-CSRS, 0001999371-26-018657 |
| PIMCO Flexible Credit Income Fund | February 5 / May 5 | 5% | In full: 2.58% and 4.83% of shares tendered, all bought | N-CSR, 0001193125-26-382417 |
| PIMCO Flexible Real Estate Income Fund | February 5 / May 5 | 5% | In full: 1.3% and 1.2% tendered, all bought | N-CSRS, 0001193125-26-382400 |
| StepStone Private Credit Income Fund | first half | 5% | In full: requests below the offer in every period presented | N-CSRS, 0001213900-26-095630 |
| GoldenTree Opportunistic Credit Fund | March 6 / June 5 | 5% | In full: 0.02% and 0.38% tendered | N-CSRS, 0001193125-26-375798 |
| Capital Group KKR Multi-Sector+ | February 18 / May 20 | up to 10% | In full: 0.09% and 0.84% requested | N-CSRS, 0001193125-26-383142 |
| Blue Owl Alternative Credit Fund | August 13 | 5% | In full: 1,114,770 Class I and 404,321 Class U shares tendered and bought | N-CSR, 0001628280-26-059276 |
| Lord Abbett Credit Opportunities Fund | January 27 / April 21 | 5% | Bought exactly 5.00% each time; the report does not state shares tendered, so proration cannot be told | N-CSRS, 0000930413-26-002831 |
Three patterns stand out.
In this sample, proration is concentrated in private credit funds, and it is recent. Apollo Diversified Credit Fund's report says its February requests “were honored in their full amounts”; by May it bought about 35%, and by August about 27%. Carlyle's fund paid everyone in January and then filled 31.9% in April. The real estate fund in the prorated group, Apollo Diversified Real Estate Fund, has been prorated for longer; our repurchase schedule page follows it back eleven quarters.
The extra 2% is used, but it does not rescue anyone when demand is triple the offer. First Eagle bought 8.00% of its shares in January on a 7% offer, and still filled only 32.90% of requests. FS Credit Income Fund used the extra room precisely, buying the 0.10% above its 5% June offer so that nobody was cut.
Some reports leave out the number that matters. Rule 23c-3 requires the annual report to state “the amount tendered in each repurchase offer”. Lord Abbett's semiannual report gives what it bought (18,066,692 shares, 5.00%, in April) but not what was asked; a fund that buys exactly the offer amount every time may or may not be prorating. Our Fundrise interval fund page hit the same gap in an annual report.
What an interval fund costs
Interval funds are sold through advisers, brokers and, in a few cases, directly to the public. Three prospectuses show how far apart the costs sit.
| Fund (prospectus date) | Minimum initial investment | Total annual expenses | What is inside the total | Sales load or exit fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fundrise Real Estate Interval Fund (April 30, 2026) | $1,000 | 1.78% | 0.85% management, 0.50% marketing, 0.24% general, 0.19% interest | None listed |
| Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund, Class I (July 29, 2026) | $10,000,000 (the fund may accept less) | 3.20% | 1.00% management, 1.68% interest on borrowings, 0.21% acquired funds, 0.31% other | No repurchase fee |
| Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund (April 28, 2026) | $10,000 (Class A, L, M, U, Y); $250,000 (Class I, N) | 6.19% to 6.94% by class | 1.44% management, 1.46% incentive fee, 2.84% interest; 3.35% to 4.10% without interest | Up to 3.00% (Class A) or 3.50% (Class L) |
Three things to read in any fee table. Interest is a cost, not a fee, but you pay it: Carlyle's estimate assumes borrowing equal to 43.75% of net assets. An incentive fee is common in credit interval funds: Carlyle's is paid on income above a hurdle of 1.50% a quarter, 6.00% a year, with a catch-up. Exit fees are allowed up to 2%: PGIM Real Estate Fund charges “a 2.0% early redemption fee” on shares repurchased within a year of purchase, and First Eagle Credit Opportunities Fund charges none now but says it may charge up to 2.00% in the future.
Interval fund vs tender-offer fund vs non-traded REIT vs BDC
All four sell shares at or near NAV, do not trade on an exchange, and buy back a slice at a time. The difference is who decides whether there is an offer at all.
| Interval fund | Tender-offer fund | Non-traded REIT | Non-traded BDC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal basis of the exit | Rule 23c-3, fundamental policy | Board decides each offer; tender rules under the Exchange Act | Share repurchase plan set by the board | Board-approved tender offers under Rule 13e-4 |
| Must it offer? | Yes, on its stated schedule | No | No | No |
| Usual size | 5% to 25% a period, most 5% a quarter | Usually up to 5% a quarter | BREIT: 2% of NAV a month, 5% a quarter | BCRED: up to 5% a quarter |
| Can the offer be cut or suspended? | Only by board vote and only on the rule's listed grounds | Yes, by not making it | BREIT: board may “modify or suspend” the plan | BCRED: board may “amend or suspend” the program |
| SEC filing for each offer | Form N-23C-3 | Schedule TO | Disclosed in 10-Q and 10-K | Schedule TO |
| Where the result is reported | N-CSR and N-CSRS | Final Schedule TO amendment | 10-Q and 10-K | Final Schedule TO amendment |
| Example on this site | Apollo Diversified Credit Fund (above) | PGIM Real Estate Fund until April 30, 2026 | BREIT | BCRED |
Sources: Rule 23c-3; BREIT Form 10-Q for June 30, 2026 (accession 0001662972-26-000111); BCRED Form 10-Q for June 30, 2026 (accession 0001803498-26-000048); PGIM Real Estate Fund Form N-CSRS (accession 0001193125-26-373322).
PGIM Real Estate Fund shows that the line can be crossed. Its June 2026 report says: “The Fund commenced operations as an interval fund on April 30, 2026. Prior to April 30, 2026, the Fund conducted quarterly tender offers for up to 5.0% of the aggregate NAV of its outstanding Common Stock”, which, before the change, it did “in the sole discretion of the Board.” Moving from tender offers to Rule 23c-3 trades the board's discretion for a schedule it cannot skip.
For real estate in particular, our NAV REIT vs interval fund comparison and the ranking of real estate interval funds by fill rate go further; for BDCs, the non-traded BDC list has every fund's latest tender result.
What a holder can do with this
- Find your fund's next deadline. It is in the latest Form N-23C-3 on EDGAR (search the fund's name; the form type is N-23C3A). The notice must reach you 21 to 42 days before the deadline. Tender by the deadline; you can withdraw or change your request until then, not after.
- Read the repurchase table, not the brochure. In the latest N-CSR or N-CSRS, look for the shares tendered next to the shares repurchased. If the report shows only what was bought, and it is exactly 5% (or 7%) every time, assume you may be prorated.
- Plan for proration if you need the money. At First Eagle's April fill of 25.25%, a holder who tendered $100,000 got about $25,000 and had to tender the rest again (our arithmetic). The exceptions are narrow: small positions (under 100 shares in the rule, under $2,500 at Cliffwater) and, at FS Credit Income Fund, shares tendered for required minimum distributions from retirement accounts.
- Check the exit fee and holding period. A 2% early repurchase fee on shares held less than a year costs as much as three months of an 8% distribution (our arithmetic).
- Count interest and incentive fees as cost. Compare total annual expenses, not the management fee alone.
This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.
FAQ
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An email when the interval funds numbers change
When a rate, rule or filing behind this page changes: what changed, the one number that matters, and the source to check it yourself.
Sources, read and saved on October 9, 2026: 17 CFR 270.23c-3 (eCFR, current as of October 7, 2026); SEC EDGAR quarterly form indexes for 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q4, filtered to Form N-23C3A, N-23C3A/A and N-23C3B (extract in the dataset); Form N-CSRS or N-CSR for 2026 of FS Credit Income Fund (0001999371-26-018657), GoldenTree Opportunistic Credit Fund (0001193125-26-375798), First Eagle Credit Opportunities Fund (0001104659-26-105304), Franklin BSP Private Credit Fund (0001133228-26-012205), Apollo Diversified Credit Fund (0001398344-26-016399), StepStone Private Credit Income Fund (0001213900-26-095630), PIMCO Flexible Real Estate Income Fund (0001193125-26-382400), PIMCO Flexible Credit Income Fund (0001193125-26-382417), Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund (0001725472-26-000005), Blue Owl Alternative Credit Fund (0001628280-26-059276), Capital Group KKR Multi-Sector+ (0001193125-26-383142), Lord Abbett Credit Opportunities Fund (0000930413-26-002831), PGIM Real Estate Fund (0001193125-26-373322) and Apollo Diversified Real Estate Fund (0001398344-26-010317); Form N-23C-3 notices of Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund (0001213900-26-082097), Apollo Diversified Real Estate Fund (0001398344-26-017504) and Invesco Senior Loan Fund (0001193125-26-411419); prospectuses (Form 486BPOS) of Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund (0001213900-26-082700), Fundrise Real Estate Interval Fund (0001213900-26-049518) and Carlyle Tactical Private Credit Fund (0001193125-26-187221); Form 10-Q for June 30, 2026 of BREIT (0001662972-26-000111) and BCRED (0001803498-26-000048). Counts, fill percentages and day counts marked as ours are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.
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