Marlin Equity Partners makes room for Oaktree Capital on Coriant investor roster

Coriant has a new investor in addition to owner Marlin Equity Partners. Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., an investment firm with more than $100 billion in assets under management, has made a strategic investment in the company with what Coriant described as "substantial new capital." Just how substantial, the company declined to reveal.

The agreement sees Oaktree partnering with Marlin to provide additional growth capital and operational capabilities. "Coriant is a proven leader in innovative networking solutions with a strong commitment to leapfrog R&D and high-quality customer service," said Cass Traub, a managing director at Oaktree. "We are confident in Coriant's ability to expand its global market share in this dynamic industry, and look forward to providing both financial and operational support to take the company to the next level of growth."

Marlin created Coriant in 2013 by buying and combining assets from Nokia Siemens Networks and Sycamore Networks (see "Coriant unleashed as Marlin Equity Partners closes acquisition"). It later bought Tellabs and added the metro/long-haul lines to Coriant, spinning Tellabs' PON portfolio into a standalone company (see "Marlin Equity closes Tellabs acquisition" and "Marlin Equity Partners reshuffles executive deck ahead of Coriant, Tellabs merger").

"We look forward to partnering with Oaktree to further enhance the value Coriant brings to the industry's premier service providers, web-scale internet operators, and large enterprises," said Doug Bayerd, a principal at Marlin. "With the combined resources and support of two global investment firms, Coriant is well-positioned to deliver innovative next-generation architectures and solutions purpose-built for hyperscale traffic, extreme automation, and service agility."

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