Virtus BR Partners, an independent Brazilian financial advisory firm, has formed a relationship with Oaktree Capital Management to pursue investment opportunities in Brazil and throughout Latin America.
Oaktree, formed in 1995 and headquartered in Los Angeles, is an alternative investment management firm with expertise in credit strategies and over USD98 billion in AUM.
Eleazar de Carvalho Filho, founding partner and CEO of Virtus, and Julio Herrera, managing director and portfolio manager of Oaktree’s Emerging Markets Opportunities and Emerging Markets Debt Total Return strategies, will oversee the relationship.
During his 30-year career, Carvalho Filho has served as CEO of both government and international financial institutions in Brazil, and has sat on several boards of directors of publicly listed companies in Brazil and abroad.
“We are excited to enter into this relationship with Oaktree at this important juncture in Brazil’s economy. The opportunities in the coming years are significant, and investors will benefit from the combined experience of our teams,” says Carvalho Filho.
During his 20-year career in distressed emerging market investing, Herrera has played a leading role in many of the largest debt restructurings in the emerging markets, particularly in Latin America, Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe.
“We believe this formal relationship with Virtus will augment Oaktree’s local transaction structuring, informational and analytic capabilities,” says Herrera. “We are thrilled about this opportunity to expand our capacity throughout Latin America and specifically in the dynamic, rapidly evolving Brazilian market. Tighter credit conditions should create opportunities for long-term value investors with extensive experience in distressed credit investment.”
