Oaktree Closes First Life Sciences Fund at $2.3B

Oaktree Capital Management has raised $2.3 billion for its oversubscribed first dedicated life sciences fund.

The company said the fund will look to provide capital solutions to companies across the life sciences sector globally, with a focus on “high-growth subsectors such as biopharma and medical devices”.

The fund focuses on lending to companies with specific attributes, including those with diverse product portfolios comprising late-stage assets targeting difficult-to-treat medical conditions, strong intellectual property and/or state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.

Armen Panossian, head of performing credit at Oaktree, said that while the sector has been traditionally funded largely by equity, “thoughtful management teams and investors are increasingly realizing that structured debt and other alternative financing structures such as royalties can play an equally important role in enabling innovative life sciences companies to achieve their growth objectives”.

The fund is led by co-portfolio managers Panossian and Aman Kumar, managing director at Oaktree and a former NHS surgeon.