The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to buy a majority stake in Angel Oak Companies, a mortgage lender and investor that manages over $18-billion (U.S.), as the New York-based firm continues efforts to expand its private credit business. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says that Brookfield will take a 50.1-per-cent share of Angel Oak, offering its own investors access to the firm's residential mortgage credit business. Angel Oak will still operate independently, with co-founders Sreeni Prabhu and Mike Fierman staying on as co-chief executives officers. Angel Oak, founded in 2008, focuses on non-qualified residential mortgages as well as other consumer products. It has two main platforms, mortgage originator Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions and Angel Oak Capital Advisors, its asset management arm. Its mortgage-origination business focuses on home loans for borrowers who do not typically qualify for traditional mortgages from banks or government agencies. Brookfield is working to expand its credit arm, now its largest driver of growth with $317-billion (U.S.) of managed assets. About half of that comes through partnerships Brookfield formed with other credit firms.