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Fortress Investment Group
Fortress Investment Group was founded in 1998 by Wesley R. Edens, Randal A. Nardone, and Robert Kauffman.
Fortress Investment Group
Fortress Investment Group was founded in 1998 by Wesley R. Edens, Randal A. Nardone, and Robert Kauffman. The firm broke new ground on February 9, 2007, by becoming the first large-scale private equity and hedge fund manager to list on the New York Stock Exchange. The IPO raised $634 million and briefly valued the partnership at over $7 billion. Kauffman retired in 2012. Peter L. Briger Jr., who joined from Goldman Sachs in 2002 and built the credit business into the firm's largest earnings engine, became a principal alongside Edens and Nardone. The firm's investment strategy spans private equity, credit, and permanent capital vehicles. Its credit arm—anchored by Briger—invests in distressed debt, structured finance, and non-performing loan portfolios. On the private equity side, the firm developed a reputation for hands-on operational turnarounds, particularly in transportation and infrastructure. Notable past acquisitions include Florida East Coast Railway in 2007 and the Brightline passenger rail project, which Edens incubated inside the Fortress portfolio before it was spun out as a separate public company. In real estate, Fortress invested heavily in mortgage servicing rights through Nationstar Mortgage, later Mr. Cooper Group. The geographic footprint concentrates on North America and Western Europe, with opportunistic credit exposure extending to Japan. At its peak as a public company, Fortress managed over $70 billion across its funds, with a workforce of more than 900 professionals in New York, San Francisco, and London. A defining corporate event occurred in December 2017 when SoftBank Group Corp. completed its acquisition of Fortress for approximately $3.3 billion in cash. The deal took Fortress private while leaving the three principals—Edens, Nardone, and Briger—in place to continue running the firm with operational independence. Under SoftBank's ownership, Fortress functions as a standalone investment subsidiary, a structure that grants access to permanent capital from the parent's balance sheet while maintaining a distinct credit and private equity brand. The structural distinction of Fortress lies in its permanent capital base paired with a public-market legacy. Very few alternative managers have operated both as a public company and later as a strategic subsidiary of a foreign conglomerate. This dual experience informs a governance structure where the three founders, now holding Co-CEO titles, retain long-duration decision rights over investment strategy and carry economics, even as the firm sits inside SoftBank's consolidated balance sheet. Fortress is not a multi-family office, nor a pure-play credit shop—it is an institutional generalist whose three-decade arc from scrappy startup to NYSE pioneer to SoftBank subsidiary reflects an unusually adaptive approach to investment-firm architecture.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
1998
AUM
$72.4B (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Principals
Wesley R. Edens
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Randal A. Nardone
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Peter L. Briger Jr.
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Fortress?
Co-Chief Executive Officers Wesley R. Edens, Peter L. Briger Jr., and Randal A. Nardone jointly lead the firm, a structure they have maintained since Fortress went private under SoftBank in 2017. Briger oversees the credit business, which historically generates the largest share of distributable earnings. Edens focuses on private equity and permanent capital vehicles, while Nardone handles the legal and corporate strategy functions.
How is Fortress structured after the SoftBank acquisition?
SoftBank Group Corp. acquired Fortress in December 2017 for roughly $3.3 billion and operates it as an independent subsidiary within the broader SoftBank structure. The three principals retained equity interests and continue to run day-to-day operations with investment autonomy. Fortress is not consolidated into the SoftBank Vision Fund decision-making process and raises third-party capital alongside managing SoftBank's own balance-sheet commitments.
Does Fortress participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Fortress originates commitments across both direct investments and commingled fund strategies. The firm's credit platform pools third-party institutional LP capital into drawdown and open-end vehicles. Its private equity funds invest directly in controlling or significant minority stakes. In the permanent capital division, Fortress historically seeded public vehicles like New Residential Investment Corp. and New Senior Investment Group, which it managed externally before their subsequent sales or transformations.
How does Fortress source its private credit deal flow?
The credit business, built by Pete Briger after his tenure running Goldman Sachs's Special Situations Group in Asia and the US, relies on a network of bank relationships, loan-servicing platforms, and distressed sellers. Fortress is known for purchasing non-performing loan pools from European and US financial institutions and for deploying capital into complex, illiquid credit instruments where sourcing is relationship-driven rather than intermediated by standard sell-side processes.
What investment stages or asset classes does Fortress avoid?
Fortress is a generalist alternative manager that does not typically pursue early-stage venture capital, growth-equity technology businesses, or small-cap buyouts. Its private equity group targets control-oriented investments in asset-heavy industries—transportation, infrastructure, financial services, and real estate—requiring operational turnaround capabilities. The firm's hedge fund segment, once a marquee macro offering under Michael Novogratz, was wound down after his 2015 departure.
How did Fortress generate its initial scale as a private partnership?
Edens, Nardone, and Kauffman launched Fortress in 1998 with $400 million in seed capital from strategic investors including BlackRock and Eastgate. The firm built an early reputation in the hedge fund business through its Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund, which compounded at double-digit annual returns during the early 2000s. The IPO in February 2007 crystallized a near-decade track record and transformed three partners into public-company executives controlling a diversified alternative platform.
Does Fortress maintain any connection to the Brightline rail system?
Yes. Wes Edens originated the Brightline project inside Fortress's private equity portfolio through the acquisition of Florida East Coast Railway in 2007. Brightline was later spun out as a standalone entity, Florida East Coast Industries, and ultimately went public via a SPAC merger in 2022. Edens remains a major shareholder and board member, but the operating company is no longer a Fortress-controlled asset.
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