Live from New York with Oaktree's Armen Panossian - "don't reach for risk to deliver the right return"

What It Covers

Oaktree co-CEO Armen Panossian explains how the firm manages $215 billion across credit strategies, navigates private credit's evolution from distressed investing roots, and maintains discipline during market expansion without reaching for risk.

Key Questions Answered

• •Market Bifurcation Strategy: Oaktree's opportunistic credit team targets the weakest 10-20% of companies for rescue lending while direct lending focuses on the best 80%, avoiding adverse selection in competitive first-lien sponsor markets where capital has become commoditized.
• •Public-Private Arbitrage: In first half 2022, Oaktree paused private credit deployment when high yield bonds dropped 10 points while direct lending pricing remained flat, buying discounted public bonds instead until private markets adjusted 250-300 basis points wider later that year.
• •Asset-Backed Finance Opportunity: Banks reduced specialty lender relationships from 1,000 to 400-500 and cut loan-to-value ratios from 85-88% down to 60%, creating a $3-4 trillion unrated below-investment-grade ABF market where managers can capture mispriced senior risk.
• •Vintage Risk Concentration: The 2018-2021 private equity LBO vintage faces elevated default risk due to weak legal protections, high valuations, and subsequent rate increases. Oaktree maintains unlevered portfolios focused on non-cyclical businesses to deploy capital when defaults spike.