Aging infrastructure assets require substantial investment, but capital constraints on the part of government entities are increasing the attractiveness of private participation in infrastructure development projects. At the same time, newly accessible supplies of energy are necessitating the expansion of existing infrastructure to connect production sources with end markets. Oaktree's Infrastructure Investing strategy seeks to capitalize on these evolving industry dynamics by originating, owning and operating infrastructure and related investments, primarily in North America. We do not seek investments in low-growth, annuity-like assets, but rather we pursue controlling or influential minority investments in strategic infrastructure assets exhibiting sustainable downside protection where our experience and knowledge advantage and our ability to add value to the assets provide significant upside potential.
"We target investments where we see the potential to add significant value, principally through our operational, managerial, industry, risk management and financial expertise,” says Emmett McCann, Co-Portfolio Manager. “With over a decade of experience investing in infrastructure, we have developed a deep understanding of the risk parameters and profile of successful infrastructure investments."
Oaktree’s Infrastructure Investing strategy was added to the Oaktree platform in 2014 as an expansion of our Power Opportunities strategy, which seeks to identify successful companies that provide the products and services that support infrastructure assets. Complementary sector knowledge and a broad network of industry relationships help us to identify attractive investment opportunities for both strategies. We believe important competitive advantages are derived from the collaboration between Oaktree’s Infrastructure Investing and Power Opportunities strategies as part of an integrated global platform, which provides a broad yet specialized array of corporate private equity and other strategies.
Oaktree Insights