Brookfield unveils new credit fund for Aussie wholesalers

North American alternatives specialist Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions has launched a new private credit-focused fund available to wholesale Australian investors.

The launch of the Oaktree Strategic Credit Fund (AUD) marks the global investment firm’s first open-ended credit strategy for wholesale investors in Australia.

The fund provides wholesale investors access to Oaktree’s strategic credit strategy, offering it says a diversified portfolio of income-generating private credit investments with selective allocations to public debt, particularly during periods of market dislocation.

The fund requires a minimum investment of $100,000, with estimated management fees of around 1.9% of NAV.

The AUD offering invests the vitually all assets in the underlying Oaktree Strategic Credit Fund, a sub-fund of the BOWSAF Intermediate Fund FCP-RAIF. The underlying fund invests in privately negotiated loans to US companies, as well as selective investments in discounted, high-quality public investments.

The underlying fund holds a total investment pool of $US5.02 billion.

Channel Capital’s subsidiary, Channel Investment Management Limited (CIML), has been appointed responsible entity for the fund, marking the first partnership between the pair.

Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions head of international Jeremy Hall welcomed the launch of the fund into the Australian market, noting that local investors are increrasing seeking to diversify their portfolios with private credit investments, whilst also gaining the benefits of stable income with long-term capital appreciation potential.

“We look forward to entering the market with a differentiated private credit solution, which adopts a dynamic ‘all weather’ approach to navigate changing credit cycles across the credit continuum globally, backed by Oaktree’s three decades of credit expertise.”

Canadian investment giant Brookfield acquired a majority stake (62%) in Oaktree Capital in 2019 in a more than US$4 billion deal, forming the Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions brand in 2021. The combined firm oversees more than $1 trillion in assets. Oaktree maintains a regional office in Sydney.