Justin Guichard Out As Oaktree Portfolio Manager For Real Estate Debt, Structured Credit
Months after taking over Oaktree Capital Management, investment giant Brookfield is making a major portfolio management change for its securitized credit allocation.
Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund announced that longtime Oaktree Portfolio Manager Justin Guichard will be replaced by Aaron Greenberg. The appointment of Greenberg as portfolio manager for Oaktree’s real estate debt strategy and co-portfolio manager for its structured credit business is effective immediately, according to Brookfield’s press release.
Guichard’s role will continue through the end of the month, though Bisnow’s email requesting comment on the changes was returned as undelivered.
Oaktree declined to comment further on the matter.
In addition to his role as portfolio manager, Guichard was co-head of real estate for the firm, which he has been with since September 2007. Guichard started his career as an analyst with Merrill Lynch Real Estate Investment Banking and spent two years as vice president of Barrow Street Capital before joining Oaktree, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Greenberg worked closely with Guichard and his team as managing director and assistant portfolio manager. He has held the former position since February 2021, according to his LinkedIn page. Greenberg started his career as a CMBS trader at Morgan Stanley before moving to Deutsche Bank, where he oversaw the secondary trading desk.
Guichard's replacement is the second change to the portfolio management team Brookfield has made this year. The company announced in March that Paula Horn would no longer be a co-portfolio manager as of the end of June.
It announced then that Gaal Surugeon, Chris Janus and Riley O’Neil of Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC, the fund’s investment adviser, would continue to serve as co-portfolio managers. The company’s latest release reiterates that they will continue in that role and oversee the day-to-day management of the fund.
Brookfield reached a $3B deal in the fourth quarter to acquire Oaktree in a fully at-market transaction. The investment giant used cash and stock to buy out the remaining 26% of Oaktree shareholders as part of a plan to fortify its U.S. credit business.
Brookfield spent $4.8B in cash and stock in 2019 to acquire its majority interest in Oaktree.
Earlier this year, Oaktree started the process to bring its large build-to-rent platform in the UK and Ireland to market. The CompassRock portfolio features nearly 3,000 rental units, a majority of which are stabilized, income-producing assets.
