The beginning of Brookfield’s private credit platform began over 30 years ago within our real estate business when we launched our first finance fund, which was soon followed by several vintages within the debt-focused franchise. In 2015, the time was right to continue building on our success in real estate debt by moving into the credit markets with our first infrastructure debt fund.
The Credit Story
Our 2019 acquisition of a majority stake in one of the world’s premier credit investor, Oaktree Capital Management, brought together two firms that shared a relentless focus on risk management while pursuing above-market returns. It also enabled us to grow and diversify our best-in-class credit business far more quickly than we could have done on our own, rounding out our offering of alternative investment products.
Our investment in Oaktree and building a world class network of partner managers has continued with the acquisitions of LCM Partners in 2018, Primary Wave and 17Capital in 2022, Castlelake and Pinegrove in 2024, and Angel Oak in 2025.
Today, Brookfield manages one of the largest credit platforms globally, offering capabilities across real estate, infrastructure and renewables, corporate, asset-backed, and liquid credit. As we set the stage for our next phase of growth, our focus remains to deliver flexible, specialized capital solutions to borrowers and attractive, risk-adjusted returns to our investors.
Case Study: Oaktree
Oaktree Capital Management, one of the world’s premier credit investors, built its brand successfully launching funds during the three economic crises of 1990, 2001 and 2008. Over the years, many companies tried to buy the firm but its legendary founder, Howard Marks, wasn’t interested.
Then, in late 2018, we approached Marks and his co-founder, Bruce Karsh, and struck a deal to purchase 62% of Oaktree, which would continue operating independently.
Oaktree was best known for anticipating the global financial crisis of 2008. A year earlier, it had begun raising capital for a new fund, assembling one of the largest distressed funds in history at the time at $11 billion. It began buying bank notes at deep discounts, as well as the debt of struggling companies. When the government intervened with a stimulus program in early 2009, and markets recovered, so did Oaktree’s investments, eventually yielding billions for the firm.
Within a year of our partnership, global markets stalled with the uncertainty of the Coronavirus pandemic. At first, it appeared Covid-19 would create significant dislocation and a global recession. We raised more than $16 billion for a new fund, providing Oaktree with a significant amount of capital to deploy in dislocated markets.
“I don’t know if we would have gotten to $16 billion if we had done this on our own,” Marks said. “Brookfield introduced us to some of its clients, and with Brookfield behind us, it was just a great vote of confidence.”
