Brookfield announced the final close of Oaktree’s Asset-Backed Finance Fund (ABF I) with $2 billion of commitments across the fund and related investment vehicles, meeting its fundraising target. The fund attracted a globally diversified base of institutional investors, including U.S. public pension plans and sovereign wealth funds. The close is in addition to Oaktree’s Asset-Backed vehicle focused on private wealth investors.
“As the private asset-backed market grows, its sheer variety across sectors, structures and risk/return makes the market difficult to navigate,” Brendan Beer, managing director and portfolio manager at Oaktree, said. “We see that as opportunity, giving us real freedom to pursue the best relative value. Our approach is simple: survey a very broad market for less-crowded lending opportunities, and subject them to Oaktree’s critical eye. The partnership with Brookfield has supercharged our proprietary sourcing and added differentiated perspectives to our investment decisions.”
Oaktree’s ABF strategy focuses on providing flexible capital solutions to originators across a range of sectors including equipment leasing, transportation, consumer, real estate and infrastructure. The close of ABF I builds on Oaktree’s more than two decades of experience in asset-backed finance. Across the broader ABF platform, Oaktree has invested more than $19 billion and developed relationships with hundreds of third-party originators.
The close builds on Brookfield’s partnership with Oaktree, which dates to 2019. Now an integrated business, the strategy benefits from deeper sourcing and underwriting expertise and Brookfield’s global scale and operating platform. ABF I is complementary to Brookfield’s broader asset-based finance platform, which totals more than $60 billion and provides access to opportunities including specialty finance, residential non-qualified mortgages, aviation lending, music royalties, fund finance and digital infrastructure leases.
