Episode summary
Live! Armen Panossian, co-CEO of Oaktree at Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions RIA Council Meeting
Alt Goes Mainstream
· · Hosts: Michael Sidgmore · Guests: Armen Panossian
Summary
Armen Panossian argued that Oaktree’s credit-first identity still shapes the firm, even as it has grown into a much larger platform under Brookfield. He traced his own path from premed and health economics into distressed credit, then described how Oaktree’s original mix of convertibles, high yield, and distress debt created a culture focused on downside protection, selective underwriting, and being willing to be defensive when markets are crowded.
He said private credit is not one monolithic trade. In his view, first-lien sponsor lending is increasingly a scale-and-speed business where pricing discipline matters, while rescue lending and asset-based finance are more differentiated and more likely to produce alpha. He also argued that public markets can be useful “tea leaves” for technical dislocations, but not a complete signal for private investing. That helped Oaktree shift between public and private credit in 2022, when he said the firm bought public bonds and loans while waiting for private markets to reprice.
Panossian said the current market still rewards caution. He expects more defaults from the 2018 to 2021 private equity vintage over the next few years and thinks the worst credits will need work in 2027. His message to advisers was that private credit should be used as a diversified portfolio, not as a single sleeve, and that managers should not reach for risk to generate returns.
Key takeaways
- Panossian said Oaktree’s edge comes from a credit-first culture built around avoiding losers and staying underlevered through cycles.
- He sees first-lien sponsor lending as crowded, while rescue lending and asset-based finance offer more differentiated opportunities.
- Panossian said public credit can flag technical dislocations, but private underwriting must still focus on fundamentals, structure, and valuation.
- He expects the weakest 10% to 20% of the 2018 to 2021 private equity vintage to generate more credit stress, with a likely wave of work in 2027.
- For advisers, he said private credit should be built as a diversified portfolio rather than treated as one uniform strategy.
Notable quotes
“we are very defensively minded in periods like today and I'm sure we'll get to the markets in a moment but we are always looking to be able to lean forward”
“private credit is more than direct lending”
“I would characterize it as sort of core or beta”
“I don't think now is the time to take the governor off of risk”
“it's not your grandma's private credit”
How the episode opens
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We're going mainream. Welcome back to the Alco's mainstream podcast. Today's episode was filmed live at an event during a Brookfield Oak Tree Wealth Solutions RAIA Council meeting with a group of RAAS in the audience.
I sat down in a Brookfield owned building with Armen Penosian, the co-CEO and head of performing credit at Oakree.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- private credit
- oaktree evolution
- brookfield acquisition
- credit markets outlook
- distressed credit investing
Companies and tickers mentioned
- BAM
- Oaktree
- Brookfield
- Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Alt Goes Mainstream, this episode and its artwork belong to Michael Sidgmore. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
