Howard Marks Says Oaktree Finds More Selling Than Buying Opportunities

(Bloomberg) -- Investor Howard Marks said his firm is selling more assets than it’s buying, expressing a cautious approach to markets.

“We’re selling highly-appreciated assets, buying bargains when we can find them but it’s not easy,” Marks, the co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Group LLC, said on Bloomberg Television Wednesday.

Marks, whose book “Mastering the Market Cycle” was recently released, echoed comments from a memo last week that emphasized caution over aggressiveness in markets that aren’t as risky as they were in 2007.

As part of that approach, the firm has raised a roughly $8.5 billion distressed-debt fund that’s on standby for the next downturn.

“We’re not putting it to work very much, we’re not charging many fees and we’re waiting,” Marks said. “Our clients are happy to wait with us because we want to have that hedge -- some money committed to a fund that can invest when times get tough.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Melissa Karsh in New York at mkarsh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski, Alan Mirabella

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