Oaktree raises huge $11 billion distressed debt fund

The field of those getting ready to chase distressed investments has gotten more flush and crowded with cash as veteran vulture player Oaktree Capital has raised a record $11 billion fund, making it the world's largest distressed debt fund...

Oaktree Capital Management has raised $10.9bn for the world’s biggest distressed debt fund, highlighting the rush of private equity firms to capitalise on recent credit market dislocation by buying leveraged loans at big discounts..

Oaktree has already fully invested the $3.5bn OCM Opportunities Fund VII it raised last year, as it scrambled to seize what many credit investors considered to be a unique opportunity to buy debt in solid companies in a cut-price market.

The new $10.9bn OCM Opportunities Fund VIIb, which includes $300m from Oaktree itself, was closed this month and is expected to make its first draw down on investor committed capital in June to fund further purchases of leveraged loans.

Oaktree’s new fund is almost half as big again as the $7.5bn fund raised by Cerberus last year. It takes total distressed debt fundraising this year to $23.4bn, more than half the $38.6bn raised in all of 2007, which was a record and more than treble the 2006 numbers, according to Private Equity Intelligence.

Oaktree raises $11bn for distressed debt fund - Financial Times