Oaktree Capital Management welcomed Michael Lawton as Managing Director in the Sourcing & Origination group. The dedicated Sourcing & Origination team helps connect Oaktree’s investment strategies with proprietary deal flow sourced from an extensive network of management teams, advisors, banks, issuers, and sponsors.
 
Lawton is responsible for private credit sourcing and deal origination in North America. His focus is on enhancing private credit deal flow, leveraging his extensive experience in origination, deal sourcing, investment banking, private credit, and leveraged finance. He is based in New York and reports to Eric Johnson, Managing Director and Co-Head of Sourcing & Origination, who leads the group with Suzana Peric.
 
With more than 20 years of experience, Lawton previously served as a managing director at BlackRock, where he led the U.S. Private Sourcing and Leveraged Finance Capital Markets team. He primarily focused on originating and structuring private credit opportunities sourced from financial sponsor clients and bank partners. Prior to BlackRock, he spent more than fifteen years at UBS Investment Bank in their Leveraged Capital Markets department.
 
Johnson commented: “We are delighted to welcome Michael to Oaktree’s Sourcing & Origination team. His extensive background in private credit and leveraged finance markets will further strengthen our capabilities to pursue attractive investment opportunities for our clients.”
 
Lawton added: “I am very excited to join Oaktree and work alongside Eric, Suzana, and the entire Sourcing & Origination team. I look forward to bringing my relationships and capital markets experience to drive alpha generating deal flow to Oaktree and our clients.”
 
This appointment marks the third addition to Oaktree’s Sourcing & Origination team in recent months as it expands its global presence and looks to grow to 11 Sourcing & Origination dedicated investment professionals worldwide.