AVANA, Oaktree Form $250M JV for CRE Lending Strategy
Avana Companies and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management have formed a new $250 million Avana-Oaktree Private Credit Partnership (AOPCP) as part of a direct private commercial real estate lending strategy. Through the joint venture, Avana will use the capital to provide private debt financing in the U.S. over the next three years.
The funding will provide SMEs in the commercial real estate sector with access to capital in the form of bridge and construction loans for all CRE products.
“After 22 years of working within the CRE industry and SMEs, we recognize the challenges of this tight lending environment and that’s why we are challenging our team to lend $250MM in the first year,” said Sundip Patel, CEO and co-founder of AVANA Companies.
The Glendale, AZ-headquartered asset management platform has served over 500 small businesses since 2002 with 66% of their entrepreneurial customers being black, indigenous and people of color AVANA has funded $1 billion in loans to minority entrepreneurs, which have directly and indirectly created over 5,500 jobs.
