Brookfield Is Going For Blackstone Status With Private Equity Push
Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management, which oversees $225B in assets, wants to get to Blackstone status by moving into private equity real estate.
CEO Bruce Flatt says Brookfield’s move will put it on level with other private equity giants like Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR. At "just" $7.7B, its private equity arm still has a ways to go; Blackstone's has $91B while Carlyle sits on $63B, Bloomberg reports.
But Bruce knows how to grow: Brookfield’s valuation is 10 times what it was when he started as CEO in 2002. And he expects the fund to double over the next decade.
Brookfield is an owner-operator, buying out businesses and holding for the long haul—different from banking firms like Blackstone and KKR—and Bruce says that means greater returns on capital.
And Brookfield can’t get enough of the current market turmoil. Bruce says they’re “contrarian investors” who look to find trouble spots to invest in, like the teetering China and Brazil. [Bloomberg]
