Oaktree’s Panossian Sees Private Credit Luring Cash Away From PE

Armen Panossian, one of Oaktree Capital Management’s two incoming co-chief executive officers, said the demand for private credit is tempting investors who might otherwise have placed funds with private equity firms.

With banks stepping back from their traditional role in merger-and-acquisition financing, alternative lenders — including Oaktree — have been able to step up, Panossian said Wednesday in a Bloomberg Television interview. Perhaps unexpectedly, credit quality remains high, in part because rising interest rates are making buyers even pickier, he said.

“Investors recognize that private credit offers some of the best risk-adjusted returns in the credit markets today, and ...