O'Brien-Staley Partners

O'Brien-Staley Partners

O'Brien-Staley Partners launched in 2011 when Jerry O'Brien and Scott Staley departed Cargill, where O'Brien had served as Treasurer and Staley as a senior investment officer. The firm is headquartered in Edina, Minnesota, and operates as an alternative asset manager with a distinctly broad mandate for a non-coastal shop—spanning private credit, structured finance, real estate, and special situations. The founding thesis centered on capturing opportunities created by market dislocations, particularly in middle-market lending and distressed commercial real estate, areas the founders had navigated at scale during and after the 2008 financial crisis. The firm manages capital through multiple investment vehicles, with its core strategies including direct loan origination to middle-market borrowers, acquisition of sub-performing and non-performing loan portfolios, and commercial real estate debt and equity investments. O'Brien-Staley appears to target situations where complexity or institutional constraints deter traditional lenders, a posture that aligns with the founders' experience managing Treasury and investment functions at one of the world's largest private companies. The platform includes the OSP Capital Income Fund, which focuses on senior secured loans, and vehicles targeting loan portfolios from banks and other financial institutions seeking to deleverage. Geographic exposure spans the United States, with particular concentration in secondary and tertiary markets where competition from larger institutional lenders is less intense. The firm does not publicly disclose assets under management or total deployment figures, but its investment activity suggests significant capital across multiple strategies. Key personnel beyond the founders include investment professionals with backgrounds in credit analysis, loan servicing, commercial real estate underwriting, and structured products—a team structure that mirrors the operational demands of managing granular loan portfolios and distressed real estate assets. O'Brien-Staley maintains its sole office in Edina, operating without the satellite offices common among coastal alternatives firms. Recent activity includes continued deployment through its direct lending platform and active acquisition of loan portfolios from regional and community banks seeking to manage balance sheet exposure. In September 2023, the firm expanded its real estate credit capabilities with targeted investments in multifamily and industrial properties across the Midwest (per the firm's official communications). O'Brien-Staley's structural distinction lies in its combination of credit and real estate strategies under a single platform, led by operators who managed complex, multi-billion-dollar portfolios inside a corporate treasury rather than through traditional investment management career paths. This origin story—corporate finance practitioners turned fund managers—shapes the firm's preference for asset-level complexity over platform-building and its apparent comfort operating without the marketing and distribution infrastructure typical of larger alternatives managers. The governance model places investment authority with the founding partners, with no indication of a succession pivot to outside leadership, a concentration that aligns with the firm's decade-plus track record of maintaining strategy continuity through market cycles.