Oaktree Capital Management and Veleta Capital have partnered to create a US multifamily and alternative commercial real estate lending platform.
Oaktree, via its funds, and real estate lending platform Veleta have launched the Veleta Capital Partners (VCP) venture. Oaktree has also acquired an undisclosed minority stake in Veleta.
Financial details were undisclosed.
The companies said VCP will provide short-term, senior secured loans on multifamily and commercial real estate assets. The venture will also target alternative commercial assets like self-storage, cold storage, medical office properties, data centres, industrial, and warehouse properties.
VCP, which targets loans for assets of up to $20m, will ”initially be focused on Tier I and Tier II submarkets”, predominantly in the Western US, including Southern California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington and evaluate other opportunistic transactions nationwide.
Kaj Vazales, co-head of North America for Oaktree’s global opportunities strategy, said: “Together, we are forming a new platform that is specifically built for institutional standardisation in the highly fractured and underdeveloped transitional multifamily marketplace, and we are confident that VCP will be able to scale quickly and capture sizable market share.”
Brian Murphy, Veleta Capital’s managing partner and CEO, said: “We are excited to partner with Oaktree to create Veleta Capital Partners, the first vertical in a planned series of real estate lending and investment strategies.
“Short-term, value-add and opportunistic lending will always be core to Veleta Capital’s strategy, and this partnership with Oaktree is a significant step toward our goals of including more comprehensive lending and technology solutions, new verticals, and strategic alliance initiatives.”
Andrew Marcus, Veleta Capital’s managing partner and COO, said: “Oaktree is an ideal strategic partner for this new venture. The firm’s global real estate credit and investment strength, coupled with a growth capital investment in our company, will allow us to quickly build a premier multifamily and commercial real estate finance and investment management platform.”
To read the latest edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.
