1990s
Oaktree was founded in 1995 by a group of principals who first joined at the TCW Group in the mid-1980s Within three months of its founding in 1995, "more than 30 TCW clients transferred $1.5 billion in assets to Oaktree."
Oaktree has formed various sub-advisory relationships since 1995. In 1996, Oaktree was selected as the sub-advisor for the Vanguard Convertible Securities Fund.
Since 1995, Oaktree has created what it refers to as "step-out" strategies, usually coincident with the opening of new offices around the world. Its growth in strategies has largely focused on expanding into European and Asian markets. Between 1997 and 1999, Oaktree created three new strategies: Emerging Markets Absolute Return in 1997, European High Yield Bonds in 1999, and Power Opportunities in 1999.
2000s
In 2001, Oaktree continued to introduce new "step-out" strategies, starting with Mezzanine Finance. Asia Principal Opportunities (2006) followed, along with European Principal Investments (2006), European Senior Loans (2006), U.S. Senior Loans and Value Opportunities (2007), Global High Yield Bonds (2010), Emerging Markets Equities (2011), and Real Estate Debt (2012).
In 2005, the Securities And Exchange Commission ordered Oaktree to pay a fine, interest, and disgorge profits after the SEC ruled they had "sold securities short" before the five legal business days after a public offering pricing had gone public. Oaktree was required to put in place policies and procedures to prevent violations in the future.
In 2008, the firm raised $11 billion for their distressed debt fund. In 2009, Oaktree was selected by the U.S. Treasury, along with eight other managers (BlackRock, Invesco, AllianceBernstein and others) to participate in the government's Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP). At the time of Oaktree's inclusion in the PPIP program, The New York Times reported: "Howard S. Marks is the sort of financier who Washington hopes will help fix the nation’s tumbledown banks." As of December 31, 2018, the Oaktree PPIP Fund, L.P. had a gross return of 28%.
2010s
In 2009, Oaktree acquired a 20% stake in DoubleLine Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm specializing in mortgage-backed fixed income portfolios.[11]
The firm's relationship with Vanguard was expanded in 2011 when Oaktree was selected as one of four firms to manage Vanguard's Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund. In 2010, Oaktree was named one of three advisors to the Russell Global Opportunistic Credit Fund and was selected as a manager for the Credit Suisse (Lux) I Fund in 2011.
Seeking investment opportunities created by the European sovereign-debt crisis, Oaktree started its European Principal Fund III in November 2011 with committed capital of some €3 billion.
On April 12, 2012, Oaktree became a publicly traded partnership with shares listed on the NYSE. The company was previously listed on GSTrUE, a private over-the-counter exchange run by Goldman Sachs which officially ceased operations in 2012 after Oaktree, along with Apollo Global Management (in 2011), de-listed and moved to the NYSE.
According to the company's 2015 published financial results, Oaktree raised $12 billion for Oaktree Opportunities Funds X and Xb ("Opps X and Xb").
2020s
In November 2021, Oaktree closed its largest fund, Opportunities Fund XI LP, after collecting $15.9 billion.[14]
In March 2022, Oaktree acquired a majority stake in 17Capital, a private credit firm focused on NAV lending based in London.[15][16] In February 2023, the company launched a private credit fund, Oaktree Lending Partners, which finances private equity takeovers.[17][18] In June 2023, Robert O'Leary and Armen Panossian were named as the incoming co-CEOs.[19] As of August 2023, Oaktree was trying to raise over $18 billion for its 12th fund, Oaktree Opportunities Fund XII, potentially becoming the largest-ever private debt fund.[20]
