ORIGINATOR PROFILE
Fortress Investment Group
Fortress Investment Group is a leading diversified global investment manager founded in 1998 with $53.3Bn in assets under management as of December 31, 2021. It is headquartered in New York City with approximately 850 employees across 11 offices on four continents. Fortress manages assets on behalf of over 1,900 institutional clients and private investors worldwide across a range of credit, private equity, and real estate investment strategies. Fortress was acquired by Softbank in 2017 but operates as an independent business under the leadership of Wesley Edens, Pete Briger, and Randal Nardone.
Note: Fee-paying AUM plus uncalled and recallable capital as of December 31, 2021. Fee paying AUM is defined as: (i) capital commitments or invested capital (or NAV, if lower) for the private equity funds, credit PE funds and related managed accounts, which in connection with private equity funds raised after March 2006 includes the mark-to-market value on public securities held within the fund, (ii) contributed capital or book equity for our publicly traded permanent capital vehicles, (iii) the NAV for hedge funds and the NAV or fair value for related managed accounts, and (iv) AUM related to co-managed funds. As of December 31, 2021, AUM includes $0.3 billion of AUM related to co-managed funds and $0.9 billion related to Fortress special purpose acquisition company entities.
Investment Methodology & Portfolio Management
Across its various business lines, Fortress specializes in asset-based investing. The Originator has deep expertise in pricing, owning, financing, and overseeing the management of physical and financial assets. Fortress has developed a team of investment professionals with significant sector-specific expertise and relationships with leading companies, institutions and individuals worldwide.
Credit
Fortress’ Credit business, founded by Peter Briger in 2002, is focused on protecting and growing investor capital, applying the discipline, rigor and expertise honed through decades of investment experience through a full range of market, economic and credit cycles and across asset classes, structures, geographies and industries. Managing Partners and co-Chief Investment Officers Pete Briger, Dean Dakolias, Drew McKnight and Joshua Pack, have worked together for nearly two decades, and today lead a team of more than 525 professionals, including 130 professionals devoted to asset management as of December 31, 2021. Strategies within the Credit business include lending, real estate, structured finance, and corporate and debt securities.
Private Equity
Fortress's Private Equity business, launched in 1998 by Wes Edens and Randy Nardone, is focused on making control-oriented investments in cash flow generating assets and asset-based businesses primarily within North America, the Caribbean and Western Europe. The Private Equity team applies a value-oriented, opportunistic investment approach with active, hands-on management in large, addressable markets where Fortress has significant experience and expertise. While the Originator is open to investments across a range of industries, sectors in which Fortress has made substantial private equity investments recently include Financial Services, Transportation, Energy & Infrastructure and Healthcare.
Management
Pete Briger (Principal and Co-Chief Executive Officer)
Mr. Briger is Co-Chief Executive Officer of Fortress Investment Group. Prior to joining Fortress in 2002, Mr. Briger spent fifteen years at Goldman Sachs, where he became a partner in 1996. Mr. Briger serves on the board of several charitable organizations, including Princeton University, the UCSF Foundation and Tipping Point.
In addition, Mr. Briger is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the PayPal Digital Advisory Board. Mr. Briger received a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Wesley Edens (Co-Founder, Principal and Co-Chief Executive Officer)
Mr. Edens is Co-CEO of Fortress and has been a member of Fortress’ board of directors since November 2006. Mr. Edens has been a member of the management committee of Fortress since 1998. Mr. Edens is responsible for the Originator’s private equity and publicly traded alternative investment businesses.
Prior to co-founding Fortress in 1998, Mr. Edens was a partner and managing director of BlackRock Financial Management Inc., where he headed BlackRock Asset Investors, a private equity fund. In addition, Mr. Edens was formerly a partner and managing director of Lehman Brothers. Mr. Edens received a B.S. in Finance from Oregon State University.
Eran Zur (Chief Investment Officer & Head of the Intellectual Property Group)
Mr. Zur joined Fortress in 2013 and has overseen Fortress’ IP investment strategy with over $1.2Bn invested in the sector as of December 31, 2021. He has experience implementing IP licensing programs and has negotiated settlements with hundreds of companies across the pharmaceutical, medical, food & beverage, electronics, defense, semiconductor, and retail sectors.
Prior to joining the Originator, Mr. Zur was a co-founder of Koru Ventures, an asset-based lender that provided tech companies with capital via patent-backed loans. Before Koru Ventures, Mr. Zur was the president and co-founder of RPX Corporation, a publicly-listed patent aggregator. Prior to co-founding RPX Corporation in 2008, Mr. Zur co-founded Hoffman and Zur IP, an advisor that focused on patent brokerage. He began his career as a contingent fee lawyer and was involved with the Lemelson Foundation licensing campaign, which is the most successful licensing program for an individual inventor with over 1K licenses generating ~$1.5Bn in licensing proceeds. He received his law degree from the University of Leeds, England and a postgraduate degree in international trade law from the University of Arizona.
Erez Levy (Deputy CIO of the IP Group)
Mr. Levy has worked with Mr. Zur since 2012 when he co-founded Koru Ventures, an asset-based lender focused on patent-backed loans. He joined Fortress in 2013 as well and has overseen Fortress’ nearly $1Bn in IP-related investments since then. Prior to co-founding Koru Ventures, Mr. Levy served as a MD with TriplePoint Capital, a specialty finance company targeting venture-backed businesses. Before that, Mr. Levy was an investment banker in JPMorgan’s technology investment banking group in San Francisco. Mr. Levy received his BS from the University of California at Berkeley.
2 Represents an average net realized internal rate of return (IRR) with respect to all matured investments in your portfolio, utilizing the effective dates and amounts to and from the investments and net of management fees and all other expenses charged to the investments. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results and should not be relied upon as the basis for making an investment decision. All securities involve risk and may result in significant losses, including the loss of principal invested.[read more]